'He's better than this,' says Thomas Barrack, Trump's loyal whisperer

New York • Thomas Barrack Jr., a billionaire who is one of President Donald Trump's oldest friends, had spent weeks trying to smooth the way for a May presidential meeting in Saudi Arabia with Gulf leaders.All initially went well. Trump praised Qatar — where Barrack, who is Arab American, has deep business ties — as a "crucial strategic partner." Then Trump reversed course a few weeks later and attacked Qatar as "a funder of terrorism at a very high level."Barrack was taken abac