Donald Trump has severed ties with one of his oldest and closest friends, wealthy investor Tom Barrack, Politico reports. The friendship goes back decades, and the men were so close, reportedly, that "Barrack comforted Trump during the funeral of his father, Fred."
The two were so close that Barrack was tapped to as chairman of Trump's 2017 inauguration fund, and that's why Trump is dumping him now. Barrack is under investigation for "allegedly making it easy for some foreigners and others to try to spend money to get access to Trump and his inner circle." There are also reports that the inauguration money was misspent, and Trump is very, very shocked to learn all this, administration officials say. "The president was really surprised to read all about the inauguration and who was trying to buy access and how, because the president doesn't get any of that money," said the official. Well, some of that money, actually. Because the committee spent $1.5 million at Trump's D.C. hotel.
Barrack is the guy responsible for bringing Paul Manafort to the Trump campaign. Manafort and Barrack were already busy before the election, allegedly peddling influence with Barrack's extensive list of friends in the Middle East, now part of the federal probe.
Federal prosecutors are trying to determine if the inaugural committee allowed foreigners, specifically Saudi and UEA friends of Barrack, to use straw donors in order to contribute to the inaugural fund. He is, according to news reports, cooperating with those prosecutors in the public integrity unit of the United States attorney’s office in Brooklyn investigating that and whether he violated laws requiring lobbyists to register when they work for foreign interests. Maybe that's why Trump is so pissed at him: for the “cooperating” part.