Trump Ally Testifies About Former President’s ‘Disastrous’ Foreign Policy: Seemed Like He ‘Could Not Spell Middle East’

BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images

The head of Donald Trump’s first inaugural committee testified on Monday that the former president’s foreign policy was “disastrous.”

Billionaire Thomas Barrack is currently on trial facing charges of obstruction of justice, making false statements, and failing to register as a foreign agent. Prosecutors say the businessman worked to advance the interests of the government of the United Arab Emirates as it funneled millions of dollars into his businesses.

He testified that he once thought Trump “could be good for the system,” but later cooled on the former president thanks in part to Trump’s so-called Muslim ban, which prohibited the entry of nationals from several Muslim-majority countries.

“This is America,” Barrack recalled himself thinking. “How can you ban a whole religion?”

He has denied working for the U.A.E. because it would have been “impossible” for him to do so because his business associates would not tolerate it. Some of those associates, he said, “were upset I was friends with the president.”

Barrack added that Trump was seen as a person who “could not spell ‘Middle East.'”

“It was a nightmare,” he told the court.

According to the Associated Press:

The government rested its criminal case last week. Much of the evidence focused on emails and other back-channel communications between Barrack and his high-level leaders in the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Prosecutors say those communications show how Barrack and his contacts strategized over how to win over Trump.

Barrack raised a stunning $107 million for Trump’s inaugural celebration in January 2017.