| With help from Phelim Kine, Maggie Miller and Daniel Lippman
U.S. Ambassador to Turkey and special envoy to Syria TOM BARRACK had a yearslong friendship with convicted sex offender JEFFREY EPSTEIN, but their ties have not generated the same firestorm as others in President DONALD TRUMP’s orbit.
Barrack exchanged numerous emails with Epstein over more than a decade, including writing him Sept. 14, 2009, two months after the financier was released from jail following his sex offender conviction. “Thinking about u___hope u r good and life is calm again,” Barrack wrote, signing his missive, “Tom.”
Their exchanges span Barrack’s time fundraising for Trump’s first presidential campaign, chairing his inauguration committee and informally advising government officials during his administration (CBS News’ Daniel Ruetenik did a full dig this weekend).
“How is my role model?” Barrack asked Epstein in a Dec. 4, 2012 email.
Sen. TAMMY DUCKWORTH (D-Ill.) told NatSec Daily she voted against Barrack’s nomination, “and that was before we knew one of the most notorious sex traffickers in history was his ‘role model.’” Sen. JEFF MERKLEY (D-Ore.) told me Barrack owes “a detailed explanation.”
Sen. ADAM SCHIFF (D-Calif.) wrote on Monday night, “Is this really who we want representing our country overseas?”
But the wider reaction has been muted.
NatSec Daily contacted every member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for comment this morning. Only Duckworth and Merkley replied.
Spokespeople for Barrack didn’t respond to questions from your anchor, and neither did the White House or State Department. NatSec Daily didn’t find any public comment from Barrack or Trump on the ambassador’s ties to Epstein.
The files include one previously unreported exchange over designing Epstein’s private Great St. James Island.
In August 2016, Epstein’s office approached the Hart Howerton design company about renovating the island, saying “Tom Barrack suggested” the idea.
Although Epstein spoke with the company, the deal never went through. In July 2017, Epstein followed up with Barrack saying, “this was your recommendation last year. when they thought hillary would get elected , do you think they might reconsidr[sic]?” Epstein pursued the same idea in a direct email to the Hart Howerton firm, saying the CEO “can speak with tom barrack who he knows well to get info.”
Hart Howerton didn’t respond to NatSec Daily’s questions.
Lawmakers from both parties have called for Commerce Secretary HOWARD LUTNICK to resign after he was found to maintain closer contact with Epstein than he had claimed — though the White House has shrugged at the ties.
TOM PRITZKER stepped down as chair of the Hyatt Hotels Corporation Monday “in the context of my association with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell which I deeply regret.” (Notably, Pritzker remains chair of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, which did not respond to NatSec Daily’s questions.)
One reason for the fairly quiet reaction to Barrack’s Epstein ties could be his allies in both parties. On Saturday Barrack praised SFRC ranking member JEANNE SHAHEEN (D-N.H.)’s “strong engagement” on Syria, and amplified her announcement of a meeting in Munich between bipartisan senators and Syria’s Foreign Minister ASAAD AL-SHAIBANI and Commander of Syrian Democratic Forces Gen. MAZLOUM ABDI. Shaheen’s office didn’t respond to questions on Barrack’s relationship with Epstein.
A former Trump administration official, granted anonymity because they feared retaliation, told NatSec Daily: “Democrats are reticent to attack Barrack because he’s been a champion for their Middle East priorities, particularly securing sanctions relief for AHMAD AL-SHARAA’s administration in Syria. Republicans are wary to publicly critique Barrack because he’s been a Trump guy, though there is a lot of private outrage at both his conduct and policies.” |
