Qatar is a tiny desert nation, yet its people enjoy the Middle East’s highest standard of living. Enormous oil and gas wealth also allows the country to buy influence around the globe, especially here in the United States.
Now, an explosive report examines how this money is being weaponized.
Direct from the Persian Gulf to elite universities, corporations, and powerful institutions — Qatari cash is flooding America.
Natalie Ecanow, a senior research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, has tracked this money trail, which goes back some 25 years.
“I spent over a year trying to trace as much of Qatar’s money as I could in the United States, and the grand total that I came up with was $400 billion and change,” she explained. “That’s billion with a b.”
Most of that money started flowing in 2010.
“In some cases, it’s a clear play for influence. I would say that money the Qataris spend on lobbying, public relations, media, to a certain extent, education, all of that is buying influence to some degree,” Ecanow said.
It turns out FDD found Qatari billions making their way into important places here in the U.S. — from our defense and energy industries to public schools and even American universities.
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Gregg Roman, who heads up the Middle East Forum, worries about the depth of this influence. “They’re essentially undermining American citizens’ interests in our backyard,” he said.
When it comes to defense, the monarchy hasn’t been shy about spending big. They’ve dropped at least $30 billion on helicopters, missiles, drones, and F-15 fighter jets. Qatar even coordinates this from inside our country.
“Their state defense firm has a U.S. subsidiary in South Carolina. And it runs, what is essentially a drone research and development facility,” Ecanow explained. “It’s called Johns Island. And that’s soaked up millions of dollars.”
Qatar has poured billions into building up the U.S. Al Udeid Air Base, just southwest of Doha. As home to about 10,000 troops, this is where U.S. Central Command runs the show. Without this base, the American air campaign against Iran would have been a lot tougher. And that’s just the start.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance looks on as Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, center, speaks while gesturing towards Qatar’s Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani, at the Iran negotiations in Obbuergen, Switzerland, June 21, 2026. (Nathan Howard/Pool Photo via AP)
During the recent G-7 summit in Evian, France, the Qatari emir told President Trump he’s proud of his country’s investments in America. While thanking the emir, Trump announced that more Qatari cash will be coming.
“You fought, and you helped us, and with great bravery. So I just want to compliment you on that. And you’ll always be my friend,” Trump said. “Qatar is going to be investing much more than $1 trillion in the United States.”
Over the past decade, Qatar has also pumped $25 billion into U.S. energy, with most of that money landing in oil-rich Texas. “Mostly in liquefied natural gas operations down there. And I believe one of the Qatari projects actually just came online in the last couple of months,” Ecanow said.
She and Roman both point out that they consider Qatari donations to American universities especially troubling.
Why? Qatar openly supports the Muslim Brotherhood and has hosted the Taliban and Hamas, terrorists.
According to FDD, the Israeli government actually approved more than $1 billion in Qatari money sent to Hamas since 2012.
“The thinking was, if the Qataris could, you know, spend money on or subsidize, you know, civil service salaries and things like that in Gaza and stabilize, sort of like civilian life in the strip, that maybe, you know, Hamas would sort of moderate. That thinking obviously was proved wrong,” Ecanow said.
Roman is pulling back the curtain on how and where this money can shape what happens at our universities.
“Start with Georgetown. Almost $1 billion from Qatar went to the university over 20 years. A son of the former Emir sits on its board. Qatar names the chairs. They pick the Fellows. Qatar is the number one foreign funder of American universities. It even surpassed China,” he explained. “And then in 2025, it tripled its giving from under $400 million at one point to $2 billion in a single year.”
Georgetown University says the money it receives from Qatar comes primarily from contracts to operate a satellite campus in Doha. The university is in full legal compliance with U.S. government reporting requirements and maintains full operational and academic autonomy.
Ecanow, however, believes all that Qatari money has made schools like Georgetown forget what they stand for.
“Last year, the president of Georgetown awarded the mother of the Qatari Emir. So that’s the mother of the ruler of Qatar, awarded her what is essentially the highest honor that the president can give out. And what’s interesting about this is that this particular woman, months prior to receiving the award, publicly eulogized YaYa Sinwar, who was Hamas’s chief in Gaza, and one of the, if not the mastermind behind Hamas’s October 7th terrorist attack.”
Roman believes antisemitism on college campuses has something to do with Qatar funding.
“If you look at the universities that they have relationships with, whether it be Carnegie Mellon, Northwestern, Cornell, Georgetown, or even Texas A&M, to a certain extent, which severed their relationship with the Qataris, these are hotbeds of antisemitism in America,” he insisted. “There’s a direct correlation between the levels of antisemitism on college campuses and how much Qatari money goes into those schools.”
President Trump has praised Qatar as a resilient partner under pressure in the war with Iran. Before the fighting started, though, the two countries appeared pretty friendly. They also share good ties with American adversaries, Russia and China.
“It really boils down to what we’d like to describe as arsonist and firefighter. The Qataris are playing both. And so far, there’s been very little accountability from the U.S. government for the more adversarial things that the Qataris engage in,” said Ecanow.
FDD reports the Qataris have also spent $295 billion on public relations and lobbying the U.S. Congress.
“But I should note that all that activity is legal,” Ecanow insisted. “There’s nothing wrong with it. It’s just that, a) there needs to be disclosure, and b) it can’t prevent the U.S. government from holding Qatar accountable for the things that don’t necessarily align with American priorities.”
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