Persian Gulf governments are preparing with dread for the inevitable: A damaging barrage of inquiries into alleged corruption involving President Donald Trump, his administration and family, by Democrats who swept the House and Senate in last week’s midterm elections, and who have pledged to follow the money wherever it may lead.
Democrats on Capitol Hill have warned the governments of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar of the coming investigations, according to officials in Washington and diplomats in the Gulf states, who like others interviewed for this article spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy.
After decisive Democratic victories in last week’s midterm elections, the party vowed to launch sweeping probes into the Trump administration and those around it. Inquiries involving Persian Gulf monarchies are expected to focus on real estate deals, financial investments and other transactions, including the Qatari gift of a $400 million luxury jet.
Democratic lawmakers have warned the Persian Gulf states that a failure to comply with the impending inquiries could jeopardize their relationships with Washington. But the Saudi, Emirati and Qatari governments are not expected to be forthcoming with the kind of information lawmakers are seeking, such as private communications, according to two diplomats in the region and other people briefed on the matter, in what could set affected governments up for a clash with the incoming Democratic majority.
The embassies of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar declined to comment on the planned inquiries.
The potential strain between the United States and some of its most important Middle Eastern allies would come at a critical moment for the region. The Iran war is in its ninth month without a resolution in sight and after withstanding months of devastating Iranian attacks on U.S. bases in the region, the Pentagon is rethinking its footprint.
Persian Gulf governments have defended their dealings with the Trump administration as aboveboard and have rejected allegations that they were attempting to curry favor with the Trump administration.
Regardless, the anticipated scrutiny has rattled officials in the region, according to diplomats based there and others familiar with the thinking of Persian Gulf monarchies.
The Emirati stake in a Trump family-backed cryptocurrency venture is expected to receive some of the most intensive scrutiny. Just months before the UAE was granted access to advanced U.S. microchips, an entity connected to a senior member of the Emirati royal family, Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed al-Nahyan, bought a $500 million stake in World Liberty Financial, the crypto firm founded by Trump’s three sons and Zach Witkoff, the son of senior Trump envoy Steve Witkoff.
“This is corruption, plain and simple,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) said in a statement at the time.
Saudi Arabia has also allocated money to Trump family ventures. The kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund invested $2 billion with the private equity firm Affinity Partners — of which Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law is the founder and CEO — in 2021. Since Trump won a second term as president, the president’s family has dramatically expanded their real estate dealings with the kingdom, including plans for a Trump tower in Jeddah announced in 2024, a $1 billion Trump plaza in Jeddah announced this year and two luxury residential communities in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, announced in 2024.
An agreement the Trump administration signed in July that granted Riyadh the ability to build nuclear power plants with U.S. technology is also expected to come under close scrutiny. Saudi Arabia has long pushed for a civil nuclear program and the deal gave the kingdom a pathway to enriching nuclear fuel. However, after fierce opposition from Congress, including from Republicans, Trump seemed to backtrack, conditioning the deal on Saudi normalization with Israel.
The Qatari luxury jet is also expected to be a subject of investigation. After the Trump administration initially inquired about purchasing the Boeing 747-8, Qatar agreed to provide the plane as a gift. At the time, Democratic lawmakers called the transaction bribery and introduced legislation to block $1.9 billion in arms sales to Doha.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut), who visited the Persian Gulf in October, said he raised his concerns about corruption with Saudi Crown Prince Muhammed Bin Salman and Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. “There needed to be some hard messages delivered in Saudi Arabia and in Qatar. Our foreign policy has been corrupted,” he said at a Washington DC event shortly after returning.
Murphy said he warned the states against expanding those financial ties, cautioning that such moves would only further “jeopardize the relationship.”
The subpoena authority that Democrats will soon have in Congress does not extend to foreign governments, but Congress could use other levers of power.
Two congressional aides to Democrats briefed on the planned corruption inquiries, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share sensitive details, said lawmakers could respond to corruption concerns in areas where Congress has oversight and influence, such as arms sales and security assistance. Lawmakers will be “less likely to want to be full partners with a country that we believe is involved in corrupting our system,” said one of the aides.
Congressional investigators are looking for information to help them “unpack the strategy” behind the investments and gifts, according to Donald Sherman, the president and CEO of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a government watchdog group. He said lawmakers will be looking for communications between Persian Gulf officials, members of the Trump administration and Trump family members that link the investments and gifts to policy changes.
“The American public understands that money has influence, but how it influences, seeing how is very different,” he said. “It’s one thing to intuit, it’s another thing to know.”
Diplomats and others familiar with the thinking of Persian Gulf governments say they would be unlikely to hand over such information.
One of the diplomats based in the region said the kind of information U.S. lawmakers are after would be politically “embarrassing” for Persian Gulf states to reveal, and doing so would also open them up to punitive congressional action.
Allison Minor, who served during the first Trump administration as the director for Arabian Peninsula affairs on the National Security Council, said she expects the inquiries to further frustrate what was already expected to be a more acrimonious relationship.
“I think that Gulf countries have an uphill battle with Democrats,” said Minor.
“It’s not just corruption, it’s also Sudan and the Saudi war in Yemen,” she said, referring to the UAE’s alleged support for paramilitary fighters who have killed thousands in Sudan’s civil war and concern surrounding Saudi Arabia’s conduct of operations against the Houthi militia in Yemen, including allegations of high civilian casualties.
These are issues on which, Minor said, “Democrats have a lot of muscle memory and pent-up frustration.”
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