Norman Eisen, Claire Finkelstein and Richard Painter write:

This week, Tom Barrack, who was the chair of Donald J. Trump’s 2017 inaugural committee, was charged with multiple crimes, including conspiracy to act as an unregistered agent of a foreign government.

The prosecution is a welcome first step to rein in both foreign lobbying generally and the corruption seemingly surrounding the former president specifically, but much more is needed on both counts.

Barrack allegedly tried to influence Trump’s 2016 campaign and the subsequent administration at the behest of the United Arab Emirates. He added language praising the UAE in a campaign speech, for example, and later promoted a candidate favored by UAE officials for the role of US ambassador, according to the Department of Justice. [Continue reading…]

CNN reports:

A federal magistrate judge on Friday ordered Tom Barrack, a longtime associate of former President Donald Trump who was indicted earlier this week on charges of illegal foreign lobbying, released from jail pending trial, freeing him on a bail package that includes a $250 million bond secured by $5 million in cash.

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. [Continue reading…]