A group of House Democrats wrote to President Donald Trump on Friday to express “strong opposition” to the administration’s plans to lift sanctions on Turkey and sell the country F-35 fighter jets, and suggested that the decisions may be driven by Trump’s or his family members’ financial interests.

The letter requests that Trump, U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack and Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. preserve records relating to their relationships with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the Turkish government, stating that, “In the coming months and years, Congress will continue to exercise our constitutional oversight authorities and thoroughly scrutinize this matter to ensure the interests of the American people and their security is protected” — suggesting a potential House investigation if Democrats retake the chamber in November.

The letter was led by Reps. Wesley Bell (D-MO), Dan Goldman (D-NY) and Dina Titus (D-NV), joined by Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), Brad Schneider (D-IL), Gabe Amo (D-RI), Jim Costa (D-CA), Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), Brad Sherman (D-CA) and Rob Menendez (D-NJ).

“Besides the legal limitations on your authority on this issue, we are perplexed by what you believe justifies this potential action,” the lawmakers said of the sanctions relief.

They emphasized that Turkey has only continued to “provoke our democratic allies, undermine regional stability, and support U.S. adversaries and their proxies — including Foreign Terrorist Organizations” since the sanctions were first imposed by Congress during Trump’s first term, and has still not resolved the issue that prompted the sanctions initially — namely, purchasing a Russian S-400 missile-defense system. This issue may be resolved on Friday, as Turkey is expected to announce that it will sell its S-400 batteries to the United Arab Emirates.

The lawmakers said that given the lack of “any reasonable explanation” for the change in policy, the decision “raises serious questions about your Administration’s personal dealings with the Turkish government.” 

“There exists no indication of Erdogan’s willingness to reform his rogue, authoritarian behavior — in fact, quite the opposite,” the letter states. “This lack of clear benefit to American interests leads us to the inevitable conclusion that you and those around you may be personally benefiting from this absurd arrangement.”

They highlighted a reported private meeting between Trump Jr. and Erdoğan in 2025 as reason for further investigation and alleged that Barrack “has a history of acting in his own self interests,” pointing to his past indictment for acting as an unregistered foreign agent on behalf of the United Arab Emirates.

Other critics have also alleged that Barrack’s actions on policy and statements have suggested an excessive closeness with Erdoğan or even service to Turkey’s interests and priorities over those of the U.S.

The lawmakers demanded the administration answer questions about Trump Jr.’s visit to Turkey, the Trump and Barrack families’ business interests in Turkey, the administration’s plans regarding a potential F-35 sale, Turkey’s support for Hamas and the administration’s decision to drop an Iran sanctions evasion case against the Erdoğan-linked Halkbank.

The lawmakers argued that Turkey has not, as Trump has claimed, been a strong ally, but rather maintained ties with Russia and threatened and violated the territorial integrity of U.S. allies and risked U.S. security by maintaining the Russian missile-defense system.

“Erdoğan has made no attempt to hide his cozy relationship with our adversaries, including Iran and Russia. Despite sanctions on those countries, Turkey maintains significant economic and energy ties to both,” the lawmakers wrote.

The White House referred Jewish Insider to comments Trump had made during a press conference with Erdoğan this week and Trump Jr. did not respond to a request for comment.

Bell said in a statement to JI that Erdoğan has “made it perfectly clear that he advocates for our adversaries and their terrorist proxies in the Middle East,” but asserted that Trump’s actions are being driven by personal ties.

“Because of President Trump and his family’s ties to Erdogan’s regime, he is reopening a Pandora’s box that can only lead to more chaos in the region,” Bell continued. “President Trump ran on a platform of getting our nation out of continued conflicts in the Middle East. Instead, he has further destabilized the region — costing American service members their lives, wreaking havoc for our allies abroad, and eroding our global leadership. And this latest action only continues to advance his dangerous agenda.”