[Stire] Trump ally Barrack to testify in own defense at ‘foreign agent’ trial

[REFLX]

NEW YORK — Tom Barrack, a onetime fundraiser for former U.S. President Donald Trump, is expected to take the witness stand in his own defense next week in his trial on charges of being an illegal foreign agent for the United Arab Emirates.

Barrack’s lawyer Randall Jackson said in open court on Friday that Barrack would the stand Friday afternoon. Later, prosecutor Sam Nitze said he expected to take substantial time to cross-examine the current witness, former Barrack lawyer Brady Cassis, meaning Barrack would not take the stand Friday.

For defendants, testifying is potentially risky because it opens them up to probing cross-examination by prosecutors.

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.

Those messages showed Emirati officials provided feedback to Barrack on what he should say in television interviews and an op-ed about U.S. policy toward the Middle East in 2016 and 2017, and gave input about what Trump should say about energy policy in a 2016 campaign speech.

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