Search Articles
WASHINGTON (CN) — A top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee is playing referee for FIFA and the Trump administration, demanding the soccer association’s president testify on what he’s called a quid pro quo with the White House during this year’s World Cup.
Maryland Representative Jamie Raskin pointed to exorbitant match prices for World Cup matches — and the Justice Department’s move earlier this year to drop a decadelong corruption lawsuit against top soccer officials — as examples of what he called “outright bribery” between President Donald Trump and FIFA president Gianni Infantino.
Writing in a letter to Infantino dated Monday, Raskin demanded the soccer association chief turn over information about what he called “troubling and inexplicable benefits” given to FIFA by the Trump administration before and during this year’s World Cup, held in cities across the U.S., Mexico and Canada this summer.
“Your election as FIFA President was supposed to mark a red-card break from a decadeslong culture of corruption and scandals that dressed down world soccer’s reputation,” the Maryland Democrat said, referring to a 2015 corruption scandal which resulted in a Justice Department lawsuit and the resignation of former association president Sepp Blatter. “Instead, at the start of your tenure, you dismantled FIFA’s ethical guardrails and disabled the organization’s ethics committee by pushing out most of its members.”
Raskin argued that Infantino’s move set the stage for him to “ingratiate” himself with the Trump administration, a strategy that began soon after the president’s second inauguration when the FIFA president last year awarded him the newly-created “FIFA Peace Prize.”
The soccer association, Raskin added, also leased office space at Trump Tower in New York for use during the World Cup at a price point of roughly $15,000 per day.
“These actions appear designed to induce President Trump and his administration to make decisions in FIFA’s favor,” said the lawmaker.
The Justice Department in May asked a judge to dismiss the decadelong corruption suit which resulted in Blatter’s resignation and Infantino’s election as FIFA president. The case against a former Fox executive and an Argentina-based sports marketing company revolved around bribes paid to soccer officials and reached the highest levels of FIFA and other global soccer organizations.
The Trump administration said at the time that it did not have the resources to continue pursuing the case and that its law enforcement priorities lay elsewhere.
“DOJ’s puzzling capitulation makes a lot more sense when we reflect on FIFA’s brazen campaign to curry favor with Donald Trump since his re-election — a campaign that has now paid rich dividends for FIFA just as North America hosted its first joint World Cup,” Raskin told Infantino.
The Maryland Democrat also argued that the Trump administration’s Federal Trade Commission failed to act on what he said was anti-consumer behavior by FIFA surrounding its ticket prices for this year’s World Cup.
The soccer association, he said, used dynamic pricing and fraudulent sales tactics to force fans to pay exorbitant fees — as much as $33,000 in some cases — to attend World Cup matches.
FIFA’s ticketing scheme also allowed the organization to move ticketholders into worse seats after their spots had been purchased, Raskin pointed out.
“This is plainly unlawful, anti-consumer conduct,” the lawmaker wrote. “But President Trump’s DOJ and Federal Trade Commission have sat idly by, doing nothing.”
Raskin demanded Infantino turn over a list of anything of value given to Trump, his administration or his companies by FIFA, as well as documents and communications associated with the 2024 presidential transition and World Cup ticket sales. He also requested that the FIFA president appear for a transcribed interview with Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee.
A spokesperson for FIFA did not immediately return a request for comment.
White House spokesperson Davis Ingle told Courthouse News in a statement that Raskin was “a stupid person’s idea of a smart person,” but did not address the specific claims in his letter to Infantino.
“No other president in history could have pulled off the historic feat that President Trump delivered for the American people and the world,” said Ingle. “Thanks to his bold vision and decisive leadership, the 2026 FIFA World Cup generated billions of dollars in revenue, created a massive economic boost across host cities, and delivered a safe, secure, and seamless experience for millions of fans and athletes from around the globe. It will undoubtedly go down as one of the greatest and most successful sporting events in history.”
Trump’s relationship with Infantino came into the spotlight during the World Cup, when the president asked FIFA to review a red card ejection handed to star U.S. men’s national team player Folarin Balogun that would have kept him out of a consequential match against Belgium.
FIFA agreed to reverse the red card determination, though both Trump and Infantino denied that the president and World Cup host had pressured him to bring Balogun back onto the pitch.
The International Olympic Committee last week announced it would not investigate FIFA’s reversal of the Balogun red card. Despite the association’s intervention, the U.S. national team went on to lose to Belgium, 4-1.
Follow @BenjaminSWeissSubscribe to our free newsletters
Our weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.
