Barrack testifies he told Trump to use Khashoggi murder to end Qatar blockade

FILE PHOTO: Defendants Tom Barrack and Matthew Grimes listen to the prosecutor during opening arguments in a courtroom sketch in New York City, U.S. September 21, 2022. REUTERS/Jane Rosenberg/File Photo

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Tom Barrack, a onetime fundraiser for Donald Trump, testified on Thursday at his trial on charges of being an illegal foreign agent that he urged the then-president to use the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi as a "lever" to get the kingdom to end a blockade on Qatar.

The testimony from Barrack that he pushed for Qatar's interests could undermine charges by federal prosecutors in Brooklyn that he acted as an agent of the United Arab Emirates - one of the countries that implemented the blockade - without informing the U.S. attorney general, as required by law.