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Trump pal Tom Barrack’s arrest places the highlight on United Arab Emirates

Trump friend Tom Barrack's arrest puts the spotlight on United Arab Emirates

The arrest on Tuesday of a key Trump ally accused of illegally lobbying the United Arab Emirates shows just how much the oil-rich Middle Eastern country ingratiated itself with the United States during the Trump administration.

Between arms deals and diplomatic deals, the UAE, a relatively small spit of land between Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf, played an important role in former President Donald Trump’s policies in the region.

An indictment filed in New York federal court on Tuesday alleges that Tom Barrack, a longtime friend and business associate of Trump, worked for years to develop that relationship by secretly advancing the interests of the UAE through his influence on Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and administration promoted.

Barrack, a 74-year-old private equity billionaire who was president of Trump’s founding fund in 2017, was arrested Tuesday morning in Los Angeles.

The seven-point indictment also accuses Barrack of obstructing the judiciary and making several false statements in an interview with federal authorities in 2019. The indictment also includes Matthew Grimes, 27, of Aspen, Colorado; and a 43 year old UAE citizen, Rashid Sultan Rashid Al Malik Alshahhi.

A judge ordered the arrest of Barrack and Grimes, with the bail hearing scheduled for Monday.

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“Mr. Barrack volunteered to help investigators from the start. He is not guilty and will plead not guilty,” a Barrack spokesman told CNBC in a statement.

The indictment states that Barrack advised American officials informally on Middle East policy and sought a leadership role in the US government, including serving as special envoy for the Middle East.

A Trump spokeswoman did not respond to CNBC’s request to comment on Barrack’s arrest.

The United Arab Emirates – an amalgamation of seven Arab monarchies with just under 10 million inhabitants – are home to several sovereign wealth funds such as the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, which has a weight of almost 700 billion US dollars. According to the fund’s website, between 35% and 50% of the ADIA’s investments are parked in North America.

Barrack is not the first person in Trump’s circle whose ties to the United Arab Emirates have been put to the test.

While serving as an advisor to the United Arab Emirates, George Nader, who later pleaded guilty to indicting child sex and porn in a case that emerged from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, had $ 2.5 million Transferred to the Trump fundraiser Elliott Broidy, the Associated Press reported in 2018.

Nader paid the money to Broidy, sources told the AP, to fund efforts to convince Washington to harden its stance on Qatar, a U.S. ally but a bitter rival of the UAE.

The New York Times also reported in 2018, citing hundreds of pages of correspondence between the two men, a campaign by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to influence Trump’s White House.

Broidy pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to act as an unregistered foreign agent in October 2020.

A U.S. Air Force F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter approaches Eglin Air Force Base, Florida.

U.S. Air Force photo by Samuel King Jr.

A dealmaker

The United Arab Emirates, in which Trump established business relationships before taking office, established itself as an important partner of the United States in the region during the Trump administration.

The UAE signed the 2020 Abraham Agreement, which took steps to normalize diplomatic relations between Arab nations and Israel. The pact made the United Arab Emirates the first state on the Persian Gulf to normalize relations with Israel and the third Arab country after Egypt and Jordan.

Last November, then Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the Trump administration would sell more than $ 23 billion worth of military equipment to the UAE “in recognition of our deepening relationship” and “in recognition of the nation’s need for advanced equipment Defense skills to deter and defend against ”. increased threats from Iran. “

In April, President Joe Biden’s administration reportedly notified Congress that it would continue selling weapons from the Trump era. The deal includes dozens of Lockheed Martin’s F-35 fighter jets, America’s most expensive weapons platform, as well as General Atomics-armed MQ-9 Reaper drones.

The United States, the world’s largest arms exporter, sends half of its arms to the Middle East, according to a report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Arms imports to the Middle East were 25% higher from 2016 to 2020 than from 2011 to 2015.

After Saudi Arabia and Qatar, the United Arab Emirates is the second largest buyer of US arms in the Middle East.

– Amanda Macias reported from Washington. Kevin Breuninger reported from New York.

Categories
Health

Emirates, Etihad put together for summer season amid delta Covid warnings

Emirates, Etihad prepare for summer amid delta Covid warnings

A Boeing 777 of the Emirates airline at Sydney International Airport on May 01, 2021 in Sydney, Australia.

James D. Morgan | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Emirates airline is preparing for a summer travel surge over the next two weekends, despite growing concerns about the variant delta coronavirus, which is responsible for more than a third of infections in the United Arab Emirates.

Emirates expects more than 450,000 passengers on over 1,600 flights to, from and through Terminal 3 of Dubai International Airport (DXB) in the coming days.

“The busiest days for the airline will be the next two weekends, July 2-3 and July 9-10, although high passenger traffic is expected today and will last until July 12,” Emirates said in a statement on Wednesday.

Almost 100,000 passengers will arrive in Dubai on Emirates flights over the same period to begin their summer vacation, the airline added. The seasonal surge in travel comes when temperatures heat up in the United Arab Emirates, where mercury can soar to 40 degrees Celsius and more in July.

Emirates, one of two national airlines in the United Arab Emirates, plans to increase its flight capacity to 90% of pre-pandemic levels by July. Dubai Airports also reopened Terminal 1 and Hall D on June 24th after being closed for 15 months due to the pandemic.

“All Emirates and DXB touchpoints are well prepared to cope with the increase in passenger numbers, with measures and protocols that increase the security of customers’ passage through Terminal 3,” said Emirates.

The more than half a million people who are expected to cross the UAE in the coming days correspond to almost the entire passenger volume of London’s Heathrow Airport in May of this year, according to Heathrow Airport.

A Boeing 787-9 “Dreamliner” operated by Etihad Airways displays Israeli and Emirati flags after arriving from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv on the company’s first scheduled commercial flight from Abu Dhabi landed in April 02/06/2021.

JACK GUEZ | AFP | Getty Images

Etihad Airways from Abu Dhabi also extended their “Verified to Fly” program on Wednesday. The program enables travelers to validate Covid-19 travel documents prior to arriving at the airport to improve passenger turnaround time.

“We know these are challenging times for travelers and this has been an important initiative to make our guests’ journeys as easy as possible,” said John Wright, Etihad vice president for global airports and networking, in a statement.

Delta concerns

The expected increase in summer travel comes despite new warnings about the Delta variant of the virus, which has been shown to be more transmissible, causing more hospital stays and reducing vaccine effectiveness. The Delta variant, identified for the first time in India, accounts for 33.9% of cases in the UAE, according to the UAE Ministry of Health.

The British variant accounts for 11.3% of the cases, while the South African variant still has the highest infection rate at 39.2%. The United Arab Emirates reported 1,747 new cases of the virus on Tuesday.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday issued a renewed level 4 “do not travel” warning for the UAE, the highest possible category, citing concerns about the virus. The United Arab Emirates are also still on the United Kingdom’s “red list”, where they have been since the end of January.

Britons living in the United Arab Emirates have expressed confusion and anger over the decision, particularly the Red List quarantine requirements.

Forty percent of the UAE’s roughly 10 million residents are now fully vaccinated, according to Johns Hopkins University. The high local vaccination rate, new flight routes and the easing of restrictions on vacation hotspots have given locals and residents the confidence and desire to travel again despite warnings about dangerous coronavirus variants.

Emirates has vowed to adhere to strict security measures for travelers. The airline was one of the first in the world to introduce the IATA Travel Pass, which will be extended to all routes in its network in the coming weeks. Emirates has also partnered with Al Hosn, the UAE covid tracing app, to support safe passenger movement.

“Emirates customers can travel knowing that the airline and its partners have spared no effort to make their airport trip as safe and smooth as possible,” said the airline.