Infantino faces criminal-penalty subpoenas over Trump ties after Democrats' midterm gains

FIFA president Gianni Infantino could be forced to answer questions about his ties to US President Donald Trump under threat of criminal penalties, after Democratic gains in the midterm elections granted the House Judiciary Committee the power to issue binding subpoenas.

The committee formally launched an inquiry on 26 July, targeting what it described as a “sustained campaign” by Infantino and FIFA to curry favour with Trump. A committee spokeswoman confirmed on 23 September that FIFA’s co-operation had been “woefully inadequate” — but at that point Democrats lacked the authority to enforce compliance. Their midterm success changes that calculation entirely.

The committee has stated that FIFA has yet to hand over any priority documents, including those that would show “how much money FIFA has given the Trump family”, explain the awarding of the FIFA Peace Prize, or clarify how a plan to sell off a stake in the World Cup was conceived alongside Jared Kushner’s brother.

Two days after the inquiry began, on 28 July, it emerged that Infantino had been developing a strategy to sell stakes in FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) — the body set up to manage commercial operations for the World Cup and other tournaments — to private investors. The primary investor group was led by Thrive Capital, a firm founded by Joshua Kushner, brother of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.

The FFE proposal collapsed on 1 August after three continental confederations, including UEFA, rejected it. UEFA threatened a tournament boycott and subsequently declared it had “lost confidence” in Infantino, pledging to field a rival candidate in the upcoming FIFA presidential election. No challenger has yet been named, with two weeks remaining before the nomination deadline closes.

Infantino is widely expected to retain strong backing across Africa, Asia, Oceania and South America, but campaign group FairSquare has urged national associations to challenge his eligibility for a fourth term. FIFA’s own statutes cap presidential tenures at three terms, a restriction that would appear to bar Infantino from standing again.