Tom Barrack releases utterly bizarre statement after his court hearing

Dear Palmer Report readers, we all understand the difficult era we're heading into. Major media outlets are caving to Trump already. Even the internet itself and publishing platforms may be at risk. But Palmer Report is nonetheless going to lead the fight. We're funding our 2025 operating expenses now, so we can keep publishing no matter what happens. I'm asking you to contribute if you can, because the stakes are just so high. You can donate here.

Some folks were certain that Donald Trump’s close ally Tom Barrack would immediately flee the country after he was released on bail. But as Palmer Report predicted, he showed up for his court hearing today. The weird part was what he said afterward.

Barrack released this utterly bizarre statement to the media:

This is just plain weird. Although he’s professing his innocence, he’s not arguing the merits of the case, or trying to create a reasonable doubt defense. He’s not even bothering to make the Trump-like move of accusing prosecutors of conspiring against him. Instead he appears to be attempting to write bad poetry, in an attempt at convincing himself that he’s somehow going to beat these very serious charges.

Perhaps this kind of self-rationalizing shouldn’t be surprising. Powerful people like Tom Barrack usually try to convince themselves they can beat the rap when they’re first indicted. Given the nature of federal criminal cases, this very rarely turns out to be the case, but it often takes something like a superseding indictment to shatter their delusion that they can escape the charges. Barrack, for now, seems to be trying awfully hard to delude himself.

In any case, there is no way that Tom Barrack is going to flee the country, just as there is no way he’ll end up doing any prison time. He doesn’t need to settle for either of these ugly options, because he already has a get out of jail free card in his pocket; all he has to do is flip on the Trump family. If or when he decides to play that card is a matter of if or when he concludes that he can’t beat the charges. For now he’s settling for incoherent statements that are leaving everyone’s eyes rolling.

Dear Palmer Report readers, we all understand the difficult era we're heading into. Major media outlets are caving to Trump already. Even the internet itself and publishing platforms may be at risk. But Palmer Report is nonetheless going to lead the fight. We're funding our 2025 operating expenses now, so we can keep publishing no matter what happens. I'm asking you to contribute if you can, because the stakes are just so high. You can donate here.