Chair of Trump’s 2017 inaugural fund arrested on foreign agent charges – live

Tom Barrack charged with acting as unregistered agent for UAE
Fauci clashes with Rand Paul over ‘gain of function research’
Pelosi staffer and White House official test positive for Covid

8.30pm BST

Florida congressman Charlie Crist and South Carolina congresswoman Nancy Mace have joined the #FreeBritney movement and introduced bipartisan legislation to protect the rights of those under conservatorship arrangements.

Britney Spears shocked the world last month when she delivered impassioned testimony about the conservatorship that has controlled her life for the last 13 years, calling it “abusive” and asking for it to come to an end.

Let’s #FreeBritney and countless others trapped in abusive guardianships. Proud to join @RepNancyMace to introduce the #FREEAct providing federal safeguards to protect persons under guardianship from abuse and exploitation. pic.twitter.com/cZwxCLAIRd

8.07pm BST

Tom Barrack, a businessman and ally of Donald Trump who played a leading role in the inauguration in 2017 has been arrested in California on charges of acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government, specifically the United Arab Emirates.

The 74-year-old was arrested on Tuesday, the Department of Justice said.

A seven-count indictment was unsealed today in a New York federal court relating to the defendants’ unlawful efforts to advance the interests of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the United States at the direction of senior UAE officials by influencing the foreign policy positions of the campaign of a candidate in the 2016 US presidential election and, subsequently, the foreign policy positions of the US government in the incoming administration, as well as seeking to influence public opinion in favor of UAE interests.

Thomas Joseph Barrack, 74, of Santa Monica, California; Matthew Grimes, 27, of Aspen, Colorado; and Rashid Sultan Rashid Al Malik Alshahhi, aka Rashid Al Malik and Rashid Al‑Malik, 43, a UAE national, are accused of acting and conspiring to act as agents of the UAE between April 2016 and April 2018.