Trump hovers as Spain lifts World Cup trophy to celebrate win
President Donald Trump lingered after awarding Spain the World Cup trophy, prompting FIFA President Gianni Infantino to usher him off stage.
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland) has requested testimony and documents from FIFA president Gianni Infantino, accusing him of “corruption” and a “quid pro quo” in his dealings with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Raskin, the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, released a letter giving Infantino until Aug. 9 to produce the documents “in light of troubling and inexplicable benefits conferred on FIFA seemingly in exchange for favors to President Trump.”
The congressman from Maryland also requested Infantino appear before the House Judiciary Committee for a transcribed interview.
In the letter, Raskin demanded Infantino produce “a list of anything of value (including transfer of money, gifts, prizes, awards, or public appearances) given to President Trump, members of his Administration, or their family members, or any entity associated with them, such as The Trump Organization.”
Raskin accused FIFA of “outright bribery” in its recent decision to open an office in Trump Tower in New York.
“You leased an office space on the 17th floor of Trump Tower – a space that might retail for $600,000 a year – even though it would only be used during the 39-day period of the World Cup,” Raskin said to Infantino in his letter. “That comes to more than $15,000 a day. These actions appear designed to induce President Trump and his Administration to make decisions in FIFA’s favor.”
USA TODAY has reached out to FIFA for comment.
In an effort to demonstrate his latter point, Raskin brought up the U.S. Justice Department dismissing indictments against two defendants caught up in the ongoing FIFA bribery scandal that first arose in 2015.
The relationship between Trump and Infantino was in the spotlight earlier this month when Trump revealed he pushed Infantino to reverse the red card suspension of U.S. star Folarin Balogun during the World Cup.
Though Infantino insisted that Trump did not influence FIFA’s independant Disciplinary Committee, Balogun’s suspension was eventually overturned in a highly controversial move.
“The most recent quid pro quo that FIFA and President Trump orchestrated is not a victimless crime. It hurts Americans. FIFA has taken its newfound favored status in the Trump Administration as a sign that it may rip off its consumers, most notably, by employing illegal price gouging and fraudulent sales tactics for the World Cup,” Raskin said in a statement.
FIFA came under heavy criticism for ticket prices at the recent World Cup, which were much higher than previous editions of the tournament. Infantino has consistently defended the prices, saying they were appropriate for the North American market and that all the revenue goes back into the sport.
Raskin also brought up Infantino’s decision to award Trump with the FIFA Peace Prize, an honor the congressman called “hilariously fake.”