Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, did not disclose the truth about where funding came from for a 2023 trip she took to Qatar, The Washington Free Beacon reported on Tuesday.
Qatar itself “covered $61,930 in travel expenses for Bowser and four staff members,” according to a letter obtained by WJLA/ABC7, the local ABC affiliate for the greater Washington, D.C., area, through a Freedom of Information Act request.
This directly contradicts claims from Bowser’s office that the D.C. Chamber of Commerce funded her December 2023 trip to Doha. Her office later claimed the U.S. Conference of Mayors financed the trip.
JNS reached out to Bowser’s office for comment.
Qatar reportedly referred to the trip as an “in-kind donation,” but Bowser did not record the trip with the District, nor did she sign a donation agreement, which is required by law. Her office is now making plans to file a donation agreement, two years after the fact. It reached out to Qatari officials in February for “a breakdown of the expenses the Qatari government paid for,” The Free Beacon reported.
WJLA also reported that the District has no records for Bowser’s trips to the Masters Golf Tournament in Georgia, as well as trips to Las Vegas, Miami, Mar-a-Lago and Dubai.
Qatar, which has come under scrutiny for providing a haven for Hamas terrorists, has been a main negotiator between Israel and the Hamas terror group in the Gaza Strip. However, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani said on April 27 that chances for a hostage-and-ceasefire agreement with Hamas are “low.”
