Tom Barrack is a lifelong friend of Donald Trump. He was arrested on Tuesday for illegally lobbying for the UAE. Depending on the seriousness of the “illegal lobbying,” it can either be considered a very serious felony or a mild felony. Like many crimes, it depends upon what one did to deserve the charge. It appears that Barrack did quite a bit. Additionally, according to CNN, the FBI had enough evidence to arrest Barrack last year.

They held off arresting a person who is effectively an agent or spy for another country. That is quite a risk. Is it because they knew that Trump would pardon Barrack? Trump pardoned all his other friends. Did the FBI know that Barrack had evidence that could sink Trump… and Kushner, and Ivanka?

We don’t know. But we now know a couple of things that seem extremely important right now. The FBI named the country for which Barrack acted as an agent, which is not required in a complaint, only that it be a foreign country. They named the UAE. We all know that the Trump administration loved the Arabian peninsula. The other thing we know, the DOJ really really really doesn’t want Barrack to run. Barrack got the highest bond in history today, $250 million, including conditions, like giving up his passport, and wearing an ankle bracelet.

He is a huge flight risk. Dual citizenship, 74 years old, rich as hell, and – possibly, has information that could take Trump down. This is serious.

The judge also ordered Barrack to wear a GPS location monitoring bracelet, barred him from transferring any funds overseas and restricted his travel to parts of Southern California and New York. He will have a curfew to be determined by pretrial services.

Here is another indication as to Barrack’s importance:

The judge on Friday also ordered another co-defendant, Matthew Grimes, released on a $5 million bond. Grimes will be subject to GPS location monitoring with an electronic bracelet and travel restriction.

Five million versus $250 million. They are worried about Trump’s close friend.

Yes, all of this proves that Barrack’s case is very serious. But it also should be pointed out, that if Barrack has committed a very serious crime, by illegally lobbying for the UAE, one has to ask, to whom as Barrack lobbying? Congress? That doesn’t seem to be worth all that much, the most obvious person might well be his buddy. Who else might have been lobbying for Arabian peninsula countries? Kushner? And did the person Barrack lobbied grant favors in exchange for favors? Kushner or Trump?

Trump and Kushner are watching, closely. They have to be at least squirming. Now, as they watch a judge impose the highest bail ever granted in the U.S., with other draconian conditions, it would seem that Kushner and Trump might wonder why DOJ is so worried that Barrack might flee? Might Barrack know that prosecutors have information on exactly what he did, and that such proof would involve bringing down Kushner and Trump?

We don’t know.

We only know that the bail figure sticks out. It looks like a shot across Trump’s bow, intentional or not. It demonstrates the seriousness DOJ considers the flight risk. Part of it is Barrack’s wealth making it easier for him to flee. And part of it is that they really need Barrack to show up in court, forced to show up. And why is that?

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Peace, y’all
Jason
[email protected] and on Twitter @JasonMiciak