Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser faces a possible investigation over her alleged acceptance of lavish gifts from Qatar during several trips.
A complaint filed by the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust to the Board of Ethics and Government Accountability claimed the mayor illegally accepted gifts and lavish trips to Doha, Qatar, for the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference and the Masters Golf Tournament in Augusta, Georgia, along with trips to Dubai, Las Vegas, Miami and Mar-a-Lago, Fox News reported. It cited a report from 7News claiming that Qatar paid $61,930 for a 2023 trip for Bowser and four staff members.
“It is not simply the Qatar trip, but a troubling pattern from Mar-A-Lago to Doha to Augusta National — the District has no record of who paid for these trips or what public purpose they served, if there was one at all,” FACT’s executive director, Kendra Arnold, told Fox News. “The ethics rules exist to protect against corruption, and when they are ignored, the public’s trust erodes. I urge the Board to investigate and enforce the law without delay.”
She said that Bowser was unwilling to provide even basic information about the trips.
“The basic standard for elected officials is honest transparency, which means following all disclosure laws and willingly answering the public’s questions. The mayor’s unwillingness to provide basic information about numerous high-profile trips is unacceptable,” Arnold said.
The 7News I-Team found no record of Bowser’s trips to Georgia, Las Vegas, Miami, Mar-a-Lago, Dubai, or Doha. When they pressed the mayor’s office, they said the trip was paid for by the Washington, D.C., Chamber of Commerce, though the chamber denied this when asked. The mayor’s office then said it was paid for by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, which also turned out not to be true, FACT said.
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In February, two years after she had taken the trip to, Bowser contacted Doha to sign a “retroactive donation agreement.”
The controversy comes after New York City Mayor Eric Adams was indicted last year on corruption charges for accepting gifts from the Turkish government.