By Luc Cohen
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Tom Barrack, a onetime fundraiser for former U.S. President Donald Trump, will take the witness stand in his own defense in his trial on charges of being an illegal foreign agent for the United Arab Emirates, his lawyer said in court on Friday.
Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn say Barrack, 75, used his influence with Trump’s election campaign and administration to push the UAE’s interests without notifying the U.S. attorney general, as required by law.
They rested their case earlier this week after showing jurors hundreds of emails and text messages between Barrack, his former assistant Matthew Grimes, and an Emirati businessman named Rashid Al Malik, who prosecutors described as an intermediary between them and Emirati officials.
Barrack, 75, has pleaded not guilty, as has his co-defendant Grimes. Al Malik is at large.
For defendants, testifying is potentially risky because it opens them up to probing cross-examination by prosecutors.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Chris Reese and Grant McCool)
