US House Democrats open probe into Russian oligarch’s funding of Trump Jr. wedding parties
Democrats in the US House of Representatives have launched an investigation into reports that Russian businessman Umar Kremlev paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for celebrations surrounding Donald Trump Jr.’s wedding in the Bahamas.
The move follows a ProPublica investigation that found Kremlev, president of the International Boxing Association and a businessman with close ties to the Russian government, financed festivities surrounding the May wedding.
Trump Jr.’s wife, Bettina Trump, said Kremlev was a personal friend who had given the couple an “extraordinarily generous wedding gift.” She said he paid for two after-parties rather than the wedding itself.
Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, questioned why Kremlev was financially supporting the president’s son and what he might expect in return.
US Attorney General Todd Blanche, however, questioned what there was to investigate. President Donald Trump said he did not know Kremlev and called the controversy “not a big deal.”
- Share: