"One of the earliest exchanges with the guy described as his handler, Rashid Al Malik, in the indictment against Tom Barrack involved his success at editing a Trump speech otherwise calling for energy independence to include a commitment to "work together with our supportive allies in the Gulf." Karen DeYoung described the resulting effect as a "jarring" conflict with the rest of the speech."
"The proposal seemed jarring, since the speech was to outline Trump's plans to build domestic energy production and end oil imports from countries such as the UAE and Saudi Arabia, both leading members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. When he delivered the address, Trump confusingly followed a vow to "become, and stay, totally independent of any need to import energy from the OPEC cartel" with a promise to "work with our gulf allies to develop a positive energy relationship.""
Tom Barrack edited an early 2016 Trump campaign energy speech to insert a favorable mention of bin Zayed and language pledging cooperation with Gulf allies. The inserted language contrasted with the speech's core promise to build domestic energy production and end oil imports from OPEC members such as the UAE and Saudi Arabia. When Trump delivered the address, he paired a vow to become independent of OPEC with a pledge to work with Gulf allies. Barrack told Mueller on December 12, 2017 that he worked directly with Manafort, who had sent him a draft he annotated and returned.
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