U.S. prosecutors investigate Colombia's President, a onetime Trump foe

President Gustavo Petro of Colombia, who has had a volatile relationship with President Donald Trump, is under criminal investigation by at least two U.S. federal prosecutors' offices, according to three people with knowledge of the matter.

The investigations, which have not been previously reported, were being conducted by the U.S. attorney's offices in the Manhattan and Brooklyn boroughs of New York City, and they have involved prosecutors who focus on international narcotics trafficking as well as agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration and Homeland Security Investigations, the people said.

The inquiries have been exploring, among other things, Petro's possible meetings with drug traffickers and whether his presidential campaign solicited donations from traffickers, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss active investigations.


The investigations, which are separate, are in their early stages, and it is unclear if either will result in criminal charges.

There was nothing to indicate that the White House had a role in initiating any investigation. But Trump could use the investigations as leverage in seeking more cooperation from Colombia, which is the world's top producer of cocaine and one of the U.S.' most crucial allies in cracking down on narco-terrorism in the region.

In a social media post Friday, Petro denied that anyone was investigating whether he had ties to drug traffickers.

"I have never in my life spoken with a drug trafficker," he said. Instead, he said, he had spent years exposing links between drug traffickers and Colombian politicians, a reference to his work as a lawmaker more than 20 years ago to reveal ties between the government and right-wing paramilitary groups.

Representatives of the prosecutors' offices in New York declined to comment, as did a spokesperson for the DEA. A representative of the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment.

Petro has consistently denied having links to drug trafficking, pointing to his government's success in curbing the cultivation of coca, the base product for cocaine, and his orders to the military to target armed trafficking groups.

But Colombian news outlets have reported that people linked to traffickers have tried to channel funds to Petro, including through his son. His son admitted to receiving illicit money meant for his father's 2022 election campaign, Colombian prosecutors said, but they have not brought criminal charges against Petro himself. He has denied wrongdoing.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.