U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack is an accomplished businessman with a long friendship with President Donald Trump. However, his odd stances on recent issues have attracted negative attention.
In June, Barrack appeared to champion the resumption of F-35 sales to Turkey, after that country was sanctioned by the U.S. for buying Russia’s S-400 air defense system, mixing NATO technology with that of its rival. In July, Barrack raised eyebrows again by praising Lebanon for its mediocre effort to disarm Iran-backed Hezbollah — a terrorist group that, he said, should be accepted as an ordinary political party.
Barrack also criticized Israel’s attacks on Syria to save the Druze Arab minority from mass murder. His language was unusually direct, raising questions about whether he was, in fact, speaking for the White House.
Critics wondered if Barrack was conducting his own foreign policy — perhaps one influenced by his connections in the Middle East, including past legal work for Saudi Arabian royalty and reputed business ties to Qatar. In 2021, he was indicted — though later acquitted — on charges that he had acted as a foreign agent for the United Arab Emirates without registering.
As Breitbart News reported: “The 75-year-old told the Brooklyn court he had arranged meetings between Emirati and White House officials and made media comments praising the UAE government simply because he wanted to, and not at any other party’s direction.”
Barrack’s relationship with Trump has had its ups and down. During the 2016 presidential campaign, he risked riots by hosting a fundraiser for Trump at his home in left-wing Santa Monica, California. He gave a prime time speech praising Trump at the 2016 Republican National Convention. But the following year, Barrack told the Washington Post that he had been “shocked” and “stunned” by Trump’s rhetoric in office, including his criticism of Qatar.
That unusually public criticism may have gone further than the kind of forthright advice usually given in private.
As the geopolitics of the Middle East continue to shift, Barrack may have diplomatic work to do — not just in navigating the various regimes of the region, but also in satisfying a growing chorus of critics at home.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of Trump 2.0: The Most Dramatic ‘First 100 Days’ in Presidential History, available for Amazon Kindle. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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