FIFA President Gianni Infantino called to appear before Congress over Trump ties

Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee of the US Congress, has launched an investigation into FIFA president Gianni Infantino, seeking documents that would detail the ties between football's governing body and Donald Trump and his administration, Report informs via The Guardian.

In a Sunday letter, Raskin wrote to Infantino and called for FIFA to provide any documents and communications related to gifts, payments or benefits provided to Trump and his associates, as well as the visitor logs for FIFA's office space in Trump Tower, which it acquired last year. The committee also requested that Infantino sit for a transcribed interview.

Infantino's relationship with Trump came under scrutiny in the lead-up to this summer's World Cup. In December, at the World Cup draw in Washington, Trump was awarded a newly created "FIFA peace prize" at the Kennedy Center, where renovations were allegedly "rushed" on the administration's orders to prepare for the event. FIFA opened its office in Trump Tower in midtown Manhattan last July.

Such scrutiny intensified during the World Cup. Trump made several calls to Infantino to lobby for a review of US striker Folarin Balogun's controversial red-card suspension before the Americans' last-16 match against Belgium. FIFA did reverse Balogun's ban, but the political circus cast a pall over the US team and drew the ire of other teams and associations from around the world.