Barrack recommended that Trump hire Paul Manafort as his campaign manager , whom Barrack had first met in the 1970s when they were both working for Saudis and living in Beirut . Barrack had later loaned Manafort $ 1.5 million to refinance a home in the Hamptons . On April 26 , 2016 , Barrack began an email correspondence with one of his business partners , UAE Ambassador Yousef Al Otaiba , reassuring him that Trump had investments in the UAE . “ The emails were the beginning of Mr. Trump ’s improbable transformation from a candidate who campaigned against Muslims to a president celebrated in the royal courts of Riyadh and Abu Dhabi , ” according to New York Times writer David D. Kirkpatrick . This is a testament to Barrack ’s “ unique place in the Trump world , ” writes Kirkpatrick . On May 26 , Barrack wrote introducing Otaiba to Jared Kushner , and the two met later that month . On July 13 , Barrack conveyed to Otaiba that Trump had removed from the Republican Party platform the plank calling for the release of the 28 pages of redacted information from the 9/11 report . On July 21 , Barrack spoke at the 2016 Republican National Convention . In September 2016 , Barrack helped set up a meeting between Trump and the Emir of Qatar in Trump Tower . However , no amount of investment brought in from the gulf by Mr. Barrack 's firm came from Qatar
2016 Republican National Convention
2016 Republican National Convention
Thomas J. Barrack Jr.