WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Senate on Tuesday confirmed private equity executive Thomas Barrack, a longtime friend and backer of President Donald Trump, to be U.S. ambassador to Turkey, a NATO member that in recent years has had strained ties with the United States.
The Senate confirmed Barrack by 60 votes to 36, with almost all his support coming from Trump’s fellow Republicans, who hold 53 seats in the 100-member chamber.
Barrack, founder of the real estate investment trust Colony Capital Inc., was acquitted in 2022 on all nine counts after he was charged with using his influence with Trump’s 2016 campaign and administration to push the policy interests of the United Arab Emirates, without notifying the U.S. attorney general as required by law.
When he nominated Barrack in December, Trump cited his decades managing the global private equity firm as a qualification.
(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
