August 10, 2020
The Honorable Christopher Wray
Director
Federal Bureau of Investigation
935 Pennsylvania Ave N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20535
Dear Director Wray,
As former prosecutors and current Members of Congress, we request the Federal Bureau
of Investigation look into whether any crimes were committed during a conversation between
President Trump and Sheldon Adelson. According to Politico, last week Mr. Adelson “reached
out to Trump to talk about the Coronavirus relief bill” and “Trump brought the conversation
around to the campaign and confronted Adelson about why he wasn’t doing more to bolster his
reelection.”1 Depending on the details of that conversation, a crime may have occurred. It is
illegal for a donor to ask an elected official to take action on a specific piece of legislation and in
exchange give money or agree to give money.
Under 18 U.S.C. § 201, it is bribery if a donor “directly or indirectly, corruptly gives,
offers or promises anything of value to any public official” with intent “to influence any official
act.” In this case, Mr. Adelson discussed a specific piece of legislation, the Coronavirus relief
bill, with the President. In the same conversation, the President asked Mr. Adelson to do more to
support his campaign. Depending on what exactly was said, a bribe or solicitation of a bribe may
have occurred. The conversation related to an official act, which would be action related to the
Coronavirus relief bill. If Mr. Adelson also directly or indirectly promised anything of value to
the President, or in fact makes another donation to support the President in exchange for a certain
action, then that could meet the elements of bribery.
We believe the public reporting has provided more than enough of a factual predicate to
open an investigation into this matter. We thank you in advance for your consideration of this
request.
Sincerely,

Ted W. Lieu
Member of Congress

1

Kathleen Rice
Member of Congress

Alex Isenstadt, “Trump antagonizes GOP megadonor Adelson in heated phone call,” Politico, August 8, 2020.