Russian businessman bankrolls Donald Trump Jr’s Bahamas wedding after-party
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A Russian businessman bankrolled the after-party to Donald Trump Jr’s wedding in the Bahamas, raising questions about the relationship between a figure with reported ties to Vladimir Putin and the US president’s eldest son.
Donald Trump Jr and his wife Bettina Anderson posted on Instagram on Monday that the couple had a private wedding and thanked “our dear friend Umar [Kremlev]” for subsequently hosting “two incredible nights of celebrations”.
“It was an extraordinarily generous wedding gift from a friend, and something for which we were and remain incredibly grateful,” they wrote in a post that appeared to confirm US media reports that Kremlev had funded the party.
Kremlev, the head of the International Boxing Association, is reportedly close to Putin. He awarded Russia’s president a diamond boxing glove and later received from Putin the Order of Merit to the Fatherland, according to the Washington Post.
Kremlev does not have a longstanding relationship with Donald Trump Jr, and a spokesperson for Eric Trump claimed Donald Trump Jr’s brother did not know Kremlev, according to ProPublica, which first reported the businessman’s role in the wedding weekend.
Kremlev has also been a member of the nationalist biker gang called the Night Wolves, according to the report.
National security experts and Democrats in Congress quickly raised questions about the relationship after the article was published.
“Umar Kremlev spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on the president’s son,” Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the US House oversight committee, said on X. “What did he get in return? We need answers.”
In their Instagram post, which included photos of the wedding celebration featuring dancers in sailor hats, Bettina and Donald Trump Jr said it was “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”.
Asked for comment, a spokesperson for Donald Trump Jr referred the FT to the couple’s Instagram post.
“Friendship doesn’t require a political motive. Generosity doesn’t automatically come with an agenda,” they posted from Bettina’s account. “And sometimes a wedding gift is simply a wedding gift.”
“So, for anyone determined not to let the facts get in the way of a good story: NO CONSPIRACY, NO MYSTERY.”
