Trump Inauguration Chief Tom Barrack’s ‘Rules for Success’ - a podcast by WNYC Studios

Last year, our Trump, Inc. podcast with WNYCexploredthe mystery of how Donald Trump’s inaugural managed to raise and spend $107 million. A lot has happened since then.

We now know the inaugural committee is the subject of a wide-ranging criminal investigation. And we at Trump, Inc. broke the news that some of the inaugural money went to Trump’s own business – and that Ivanka Trump played a role in the negotiations. Thatcould violate tax law. (A spokesman for Ivanka said she simply wanted a “fair market rate.”)

In our latest episode, we take a deep dive into the many roles ofTom Barrack: Trump’s old friend; wealthy investor with decades-long ties to the Middle East; and the man who chaired the now-under-investigation inaugural committee.

Before the inauguration, Barrack described the role as “theworst job in the world.” So why’d he take it?

One possible clue comes from an eight-page strategic plan dated one month after the inauguration on the letterhead of the company hefounded. Another reason could be a plan he supported to export U.S. nuclear technology toSaudi Arabia.

Barrack has spent his career cultivating the powerful. He lives by twenty “Rules for Success,” including: “Punctuality is the courtesy of kings” and “The jungle is a safer place with professionals than a paved road with amateurs.”

Barrack did not agree to an interview. His spokesman, and the inaugural committee, did not respond to our questions. A committee spokeswoman previouslysaidits finances “were fully audited internally and independently and are fully accounted.”  WNYC

Elsewhere in the podcast, we report that the inaugural committee was so eager to book space at Trump’s hotel in Washington that it encouraged hotel management to cancel another event -- a prayer breakfast -- so space would be clear for the inaugural celebration, according to alawsuitagainst the committee filed by the reverend who organized the breakfast.

The hotel did briefly cancel the breakfast, invoking “force majeure,” or an act of god. In this case, theypredicted civil unrestover the inauguration week.

 

Further episodes of Trump, Inc.

Further podcasts by WNYC Studios

Website of WNYC Studios