CORRUPTION CONCERNS

Don Jr. Hit With National Security Probe Over Putin Pal-Funded Wedding

A Russian oligarch paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for the president’s son to party in the Bahamas.

Donald Trump Jr. is being investigated over national security and corruption concerns after it was revealed that his lavish Bahamas wedding celebration was funded in part by a Russian oligarch with close ties to Vladimir Putin.

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Umar Kemlev, head of the International Boxing Association (IBA), spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on the reception for Trump and his partner, socialite Bettina Anderson, including renting a private island and paying for a massive fireworks display, according to a bombshell report from ProPublica.

While Kremlev did not attend the small wedding ceremony itself, he and several associates were part of a larger guest list of around 50 people—including Trump Jr.’s brother-in-law Jared Kushner, who is supposed to be brokering a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine—who joined the Trumps for their wider celebrations in the Bahamas.

Now, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee is investigating Kremlev’s involvement in the wedding celebrations of President Donald Trump’s oldest son.

The president himself skipped the May wedding, saying he had to deal with the war on Iran instead.

“The secretive and exorbitant gifts you have received as the son of a sitting U.S. President from a member of Putin’s inner circle raises serious national security and public corruption concerns,” Rep. Robert Garcia of California wrote in a letter to Trump Jr.

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“A Russian oligarch reportedly financing parts of a lavish wedding for the owner of multiple firms holding Department of Defense contracts is all the more disturbing,” the letter added.

Trump Jr. is a partner at 1789 Capital, a pro-Trump investment firm whose companies received more than $735 million in government contracts last year, the Financial Times reported in December.

Those companies include rocket propulsion start-up Firehawk Aerospace and quantum computing company PsiQuantum, which each received $10 million contracts from the U.S. Force; artificial intelligence group Cerebras Systems, which inked a $45 million deal with the Pentagon; and Vulcan Elements, which received a $620 million loan from the Department of Defense.

In his letter, Garcia asked Trump Jr. to maintain records related to his communications and interactions with Kremlev, and to answer questions about their relationship.

Those questions included whether Trump Jr. holds an active security clearance, whether Kremlev had ever asked for favorable treatment by the U.S. government or information about the Trump administration, and whether Trump Jr. had disclosed his “friendly relationship” with the oligarch to the defense contractors in which he invests.

For now, the request for information is voluntary, but if Democrats retake the House in November, they will have subpoena power to compel witness testimony and gather documentary evidence.

A spokesperson for Trump Jr. previously told ProPublica that Kremlev was a “personal friend of Don” and “not someone he has a business relationship with.”

The wedding payments came from an IBA-affiliated entity in Dubai that the boxing association uses for financial transactions. The sports group has been financed by the Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom.

Trump Jr.’s wife, who now goes by Bettina Trump, also confirmed in a statement on Instagram that the couple’s “dear friend Umar very generously hosted two incredible nights of celebrations for us AFTER our wedding.”

“It’s unfortunate that something so personal and happy can be recast as something political or sinister simply because of who someone is or where they come from,” she wrote. “Friendship doesn’t require a political motive.”

It’s still not clear, however, why the Trumps accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars from Kremlev, given that Russian oligarchs often act in coordination with the Russian government— and considering Trump Jr. himself is also worth an estimated $300 million, according to ProPublica.

Kremlev’s press office told the outlet the two men met “a couple of years ago,” and that the Kremlev has “never discussed political matters with any of his American friends and acquaintances.”

Trump Jr., however, has emerged as one of his father’s most important informal advisers after he actively vetted the president’s cabinet picks.

“Given that you reportedly advise your father… on issues of national security and vetting White House personnel, any possible foreign entanglement deserves close scrutiny,” Garcia wrote in his letter.

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Reached for comment by Axios, the White House shared a statement from Trump saying he had “no idea who Umar is,” and “was not present at the party” he paid for.

Representatives for Trump Jr. did not respond to Axios’s request for comment about the letter.

The Daily Beast has also reached out.

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