Democrats press Trump on alleged $10m contribution from Egypt’s Al-Sisi

In a letter released yesterday, Democratic leaders on the House Oversight Committee have formally asked former President Donald Trump to clarify whether he received any illegal campaign contributions from the Egyptian government during his 2016 presidential run. The request follows a report last month by the Washington Post detailing a secret Justice Department investigation into whether Trump accepted $10 million from Egypt.

Representatives Jamie Raskin and Robert Garcia have pressed Trump for transparency, stating, “The American people deserve to know whether a former president — and a current candidate for president — took an illegal campaign contribution from a brutal foreign dictator.” The letter calls for the Republican presidential nominee to provide documentation proving he did not receive any funds from Egyptian President Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi or his regime.

In response, a Trump campaign spokesperson dismissed the allegations as “textbook Fake News,” claiming: “The investigation referenced found no wrongdoing and was closed. None of the allegations or insinuations being reported on have any basis in fact. The media is consistently played for suckers by Deep State Trump-haters and bad faith actors peddling hoaxes and shams.”

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According to the Post, the investigation began in 2017 after US intelligence suggested that President Al-Sisi sought to transfer $10m to Trump. Subsequent findings revealed a $10m cash withdrawal from an account linked to Egypt’s General Intelligence Service just days before Trump took office.

However, efforts by prosecutors to subpoena Trump’s bank records were blocked by top Justice Department officials, leading to the closure of the investigation due to insufficient evidence. Raskin and Garcia’s letter also seeks clarification on the source of funds used for a $10m loan that Trump injected into his 2016 campaign, originally reported as a loan, but later forgiven.

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