Donald Trump Jr and his wife, Bettina, confirmed on Monday that a Russian oligarch close to Vladimir Putin partially paid for the couple’s wedding celebrations in May, following a ProPublica report that revealed Umar Kremlev spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on the events. Trump Jr, the US president’s eldest son, married the Palm Beach socialite in a lavish three-day celebration on two exclusive private islands in May. Citing records and interviews with three anonymous sources familiar with the event, ProPublica reported that Kremlev, a member of the Russian president’s circle, footed the bill to rent one of the islands where a reception was held and where guests slept, along with other big expenses, including a huge fireworks show. In a statement signed by the couple and shared on Bettina Trump’s Instagram after the ProPublica report was published, they confirmed Kremlev’s contributions to the celebrations, characterizing them as “an extraordinarily generous wedding gift from a friend, and something for which we were and continue to be incredibly grateful.” A senior Democrat demanded answers about the Trumps’ ties to Kremlev. “Why did a Russian oligarch close to Putin finance Trump Jr.’s wedding in the Bahamas?” Robert Garcia, ranking member and Democratic leader on the House Oversight Committee, posted on social media. “Umar Kremlev spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on the president’s son. What did he get in return? We need answers.” Kremlev has a long-standing relationship with Putin. He is the president of the International Boxing Association (IBA), a sporting body that has been backed by the Russian state energy company Gazprom. According to ProPublica, the wedding payments came from an IBA-affiliated entity in Dubai that the boxing association uses for financial transactions. In the days before the wedding party, he reportedly went to China as part of a delegation accompanying Putin, and the previous month the Russian president had awarded him a state honor, the Order of Friendship. The Ukrainian government has imposed sanctions on Kremlev, citing his closeness to Putin and the Russian security services. Alexander Lagutin, a businessman who held senior positions at a Russian defense contractor and a state-backed energy company, had been with Kremlev on the trip to China. Kremlev’s right-hand woman at the IBA, Elena Sobol, also attended the wedding. While the event was extravagant, the guest list was intimate, with only about 50 people attending, most of whom were the couple’s immediate family, close friends, and business associates. Then there was Kremlev, who reportedly did not attend the ceremony itself, which was limited to just 18 guests, but was present with a large contingent of Russians at the party, much to the confusion of the other guests. According to ProPublica, the group sometimes stayed away, speaking only Russian. The affair has raised questions about the implications of a member of Putin’s circle financially supporting and gaining such intimate access to the US president’s family. In recent years, Trump Jr has become a prominent Trump campaign surrogate and has even been touted as a possible political heir. Donald Sherman, president and CEO of Washington Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics (Crew), said it is in the public interest for Congress to seriously consider requiring financial disclosures from a president’s adult children, in addition to those of the president himself. Sherman said. “We know that private companies and foreign governments have been trying to curry favor with Don Jr. to serve their own financial interests. And that’s why it’s important that there be a measure of transparency when people linked to the Russian government lavish the president’s wealthy adult son with expensive gifts.” It’s another thing if someone’s father becomes president and all of a sudden this new friend starts giving gifts – that context is very important.” Similarly, retired FBI official Frank Montoya Jr told ProPublica: “If I pay for your wedding, at some point you’ll owe me something. This should be unthinkable for the president’s son.” It is still unclear why Kremlev helped pay for the wedding and why he was there, when he appears to have only met Trump Jr. executive vice president of the Trump Organization, who has a personal net worth close to $300 million (very recently). Donald Trump famously did not attend the wedding. “He would like me to go, but it will just be a little private matter,” the US president told reporters a few days before the wedding. “I said, you know, This is not a good time for me. I have something called Iran and other things.” In response to detailed questions from ProPublica, a spokesperson for Trump Jr did not deny that Kremlev had helped finance the wedding. “Umar is a personal friend of Don,” the spokesperson said, adding that Kremlev is “not someone with whom he has a business relationship” and that the men met through a mutual friend in the hunting world. In their joint statement on Instagram, Trump Jr and Bettina Trump thanked “our dear friend Umar” who “very He generously organized two incredible nights of celebrations for us AFTER our wedding.” “Friendship does not require a political motive. Generosity doesn’t automatically come with an agenda. And sometimes a wedding gift is just a wedding gift,” they said.
