Two Democrats from a congressional committee have sent a letter to the U.S. Interior Secretary seeking documents to determine whether former President Donald Trump pardoned two Eastern Oregon ranchers, Dwight Hammond Jr. and son Steven Hammond, after receiving a campaign donation from an Arizona real estate developer.

In their letter Friday to U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the chair of the House Committee on Natural Resources and a subcommittee chair wrote that material obtained from another inquiry suggested that real estate developer Michael Ingram used his “unique access” to high-ranking Trump administration officials to advocate for the Hammond pardons.

On May 25, 2018, Ingram’s executive assistant sent an email to a top official in the Department of Interior, advocating for the Hammonds’ pardon, including two articles on the case and an op-ed calling for the pardons, according to the letter.

On July 1, 2018, then- U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, a Republican, issued a message on his Twitter account that said, “President Trump called me to say he is ‘seriously considering’ pardoning” the Hammonds.

The next day, Ingram made a $10,000 donation to the Super PAC America First Action Inc.

The America First Action Inc., political action committee, according to the letter, describes itself as “dedicated to supporting President Trump,” as the only “Official Pro-Trump Super PAC.”

On July 10, 2018, Trump signed pardons for both Hammonds.

Ingram made only one other $10,000 donation during the 2017-2018 nonpresidential election cycle, according to the letter.

The committee chair Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva, D-Ariz., and Rep. Katie Porter, D-Calif., chair of its subcommittee on oversight and investigations, wrote that the timing of the donation raises a significant concern about a “potential case of bribery” and warrants further investigation.

The letter requests all communications relating to Dwight Hammond Jr. or Steven Hammond between Ingram, any White House personnel and lawyers who represented the Hammonds, including Portland attorney Lawrence Matasar and Portland’s Ransom & Blackman law firm.

Lanny J. Davis, one of the lawyers representing Ingram, denied any inappropriate actions by Ingram.

“I know Mike Ingram personally and as the head of a company I have represented — and I have no doubts about his integrity and honesty,” said Davis, attorney for Ingram and his El Dorado Development company.

“This allegation of a connection between Mr. Ingram’s support for a pardon, which was supported by others in the Oregon ranching community, and any political donation Mr. Ingram made is baseless — another example of innuendo accusations of a crime unsupported by facts.”

In May, the committee made its first-ever criminal referral to the Justice Department, also in a matter concerning Ingram and the Trump administration, according to the letter. The committee then cited concerns about former Interior Secretary David Bernhardt reversing himself on a clean water permit for the Villages at Vigneto, an Ingram development project, shortly after Ingram donated about $250,000 to the Republican National Committee and Trump’s reelection campaign. Davis has denied any wrongdoing by Ingram in that case as well.

Dwight Hammond Jr. and son Steven Hammond walked out of a federal prison in California and stepped off a private jet in Burns on July 11, 2018, after receiving pardons from the former president. They had been convicted of arson and were serving out five-year mandatory minimum sentences for setting fire to public land where they had grazing rights. Both were convicted of setting a fire in 2001, and the son was convicted of setting a second fire in 2006.

The father and son’s return to Burns came 2½ years after protesters marched through the city to denounce their impending court-ordered return to prison in January 2016. The case inspired the 41-day armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

Susie Hammond, reached Monday, said she didn’t know of a Michael Ingram. She said her husband, Dwight Hammond Jr., was not at home but “out feeding cows.”