Dear Readers,
I regret to tell you that I’ve got the flu and that’s why you haven’t heard from me for a few days.
Nonetheless, thanks to modern technology, I have kept an eye on the Tom Barrack trial from my bed. And there is some important news:
The government rested their case today and the defense has begun. Tomorrow afternoon, former Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin is set to testify. One has to wonder: Will he be more effective for the defense than Rex Tillerson was for the government? (If you’ve read my dispatches, you’ll know that won’t be hard.) Either way, the defense is expected to lay on “some fireworks,” according to my sources.
As for how the case has gone so far, I will say this: Barrack made some mistakes (e.g. writing that stupid “I’m running for the money” text). However, when one of his senior business lieutenants, Justin Chang (who was a witness for the government), told the court how nice Barrack was to everyone at work—rich or poor, senior or junior—and how likeable he was and therefore how effective as a leader, I do feel that must have struck a chord with the jury. You rarely hear that about a billionaire. Because they are not usually nice to everyone. And one thing that has come across so far is that never in any of Barrack’s communications has he come across as terse, imperious, or thin-skinned—which many CEOS of large public companies tend to be. I wonder if this could become an important factor for the jury.
I will be continuing my coverage of the Barrack trial, including a few surprises that will affect far more than the Barrack case, which I continue to believe has been astonishingly under-reported given its geopolitical implications—and its domestic ones. So stay tuned for that….
In the meanwhile, I was on “Piers Morgan Uncensored” on Monday (before I knew I had flu, although I will admit I felt crap) with former conservative MP Louise Mensch and my brilliant friend Gillian Tett, editor of the U.S. Financial Times, to talk about the news of the week. You can see a clip from our panel here:
(Around the three-minute-mark, you can hear what I think about Ghislaine Maxwell’s first interview from prison.)
Thank you, as always, for being so supportive of my work. I am approaching the one-year anniversary of my Substack, and I have some exciting things up my sleeve that I can’t wait to share with you. I appreciate your readership and you being on this journey with me!
My best,
Vicky
Feel better.
An eye on Barrack cmon