The top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee launched an investigation into Donald Trump Jr.’s relationship with a Russian oligarch who paid for much of Trump Jr.’s wedding earlier this year.
Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., sent two letters on Monday to the White House and Trump Jr. requesting records related to Trump Jr.’s financial relationship with the oligarch, Umar Kremlev.
“The secretive, close relationship between the son of a sitting U.S. President and a member of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s inner circle raises serious national security and public corruption concerns,” Garcia wrote. Garcia told Trump Jr. it “may be the most serious allegation against you to date.” The letter to Trump Jr. asked for documents including Trump Jr.’s communications with Kremlev and “financial records of all purchases made for your wedding by foreign nationals.”
Trump Jr. did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Garcia’s investigation.
The letters were prompted by a ProPublica investigation published Monday, which revealed that Kremlev secretly covered hundreds of thousands of dollars of expenses for Trump Jr.’s wedding. That included renting out a private island in the Bahamas for multiple nights. The wedding guest list numbered around 50, including Jared Kushner and other members of the Trump family. Kremlev, who first met Trump Jr. recently, also attended the intimate affair with a large group of other Russians.
Kremlev is close to Putin and serves as the head of the International Boxing Association, a scandal-plagued sports group that has been financed by the Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom. The wedding payments came from an IBA-affiliated entity in Dubai that the boxing association uses for financial transactions.
Kremlev’s press office previously told ProPublica that he and Trump Jr. “have a friendly relationship” and that they don’t talk politics.
After ProPublica’s story was published, Trump Jr. and his wife, Bettina Trump, released a joint statement confirming Kremlev’s role. “Our dear friend Umar very generously hosted two incredible nights of celebrations for us,” they said in a statement published on her Instagram account. “It was an extraordinarily generous wedding gift from a friend, and something for which we were and remain incredibly grateful.” They added, “Friendship doesn’t require a political motive.”
The couple also drew a distinction between the ceremony itself, which was just family, and the rest of the wedding weekend. In a statement released by the White House after the story was published, President Donald Trump echoed that. “I have no idea who Umar is, never heard of him, and he didn’t pay for Don and Bettina’s wedding, which took place at a totally different location, and on a different day from the wedding,” he said. “It was an ‘afterparty’ given in their honor. Not a big deal!”
The couple exchanged vows on Friday, May 22, on a private island in the Bahamas. The wedding festivities then continued for two days. The Saturday, May 23, event, which Kremlev paid for, was held on the same island as the ceremony. (“Night 2. One Love!” Bettina Trump posted about the Saturday festivities on Instagram.) The Sunday reception was held a roughly 10-minute boat ride away on a neighboring private island, rented out by Kremlev. At the Sunday reception, the couple had their first dance, with Bettina Trump wearing her wedding dress, and ate a five-tier wedding cake topped with a miniature bride and groom.
Afterward, the couple’s wedding planner talked to Hello! magazine about planning the three-day affair with Bettina Trump. “She wanted a progression,” said the planner, Lewis Miller. “The ceremony was very serene and pretty and soft, and the dinner was very elegant, and then the next night was much more colorful, and then the last night was more kind of cool and fun tropical vibes.”
