DC Mayor Bowser is not the target of Justice Department investigation, officials say

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department is scrutinizing a trip that Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser took to Qatar, but the mayor is not a target of the investigation, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on Friday.

The probe into a trip Bowser took with staff in 2023 is focused on a lobbyist tied to the Democratic mayor, according to the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the investigation.

The New York Times reported Thursday that federal prosecutors in Washington had opened a corruption investigation into Bowser and were looking into potential violations of bribery or campaign finance laws related to the trip.

But Washington’s top federal prosecutor, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, said in a statement Friday that the mayor is “not under investigation, nor is she the target of any investigation.” A spokesperson for Pirro declined to further comment.

Asked about the investigation at a press conference Friday, Bowser said she had not been contacted by any federal officials and had not received any subpoenas, nor a target letter.

“I have checked our lawyers, and we have a regular kind of chain of who talks to who and we have not been contacted, not related to me or to anybody else as I’m aware,” Bowser said.

The trip in question included a stop in Doha, where the mayor met with international leaders on the issues of infrastructure, sports and education. She also promoted Washington as a destination for investment and tourism. Qatar donated $60,000 to help cover the cost of the trip for the mayor and members of her party.

Bowser told reporters Friday that it was “a business trip, a publicly noticed trip to promote Washington, D.C., in Qatar.”

“That’s what we did and we don’t have any bones about saying it,” she said. The mayor credited the trip with helping the city to keep two of its professional sports teams in the downtown area.

The scrutiny of the trip comes a time when the mayor is deciding whether to seek a fourth term.

It also comes at a critical moment when the city is responding to a government shutdown that has impacted businesses and a federal workforce as well as a continuing deployment of National Guard troops on the street through at least February 2026.