The wedding party in the Bahamas of Donald Trump Jr., son of the President of the United States, Donald Trump, and model Bettina Anderson was partly financed by the Russian oligarch Umar Kremlev, close to the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, according to the investigative media outlet ProPublica revealed yesterday.
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According to documents reviewed by the portal and interviews with people familiar with the facts, Kremlev paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in expenses related to the union between Trump Jr. and Anderson, held on May 24. The couple themselves confirmed this information in a message posted on Instagram shortly after the matter became public.
“Our dear friend Umar, with great generosity, offered us two incredible nights of celebration AFTER our wedding. It was an extraordinarily generous wedding gift from a friend, and something we were and continue to be incredibly grateful for,” the couple states in their statement.
The Russian businessman covered the rental of one of the private islands where the guests stayed, as well as other expenses
The Russian businessman – who leads the International Boxing Association, an organization funded by the Russian state energy company Gazprom that was expelled by the International Olympic Committee due to governance and corruption issues – covered the rental of one of the private islands where the reception took place and where the guests stayed, as well as other significant expenses, including a fireworks show budgeted at about $70,000.
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According to ProPublica, Kremlev attended part of the celebrations. Among the attendees were Ivanka Trump, one of the daughters of the U.S. president, and her husband, Jared Kushner, special envoy of the White House for negotiations in international conflicts, including Ukraine.
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President Trump, on the other hand, did not attend the wedding or the subsequent party due to scheduling commitments. At the time, he stated that the ceremony would be very intimate and private. Yesterday, when asked by The New York Times about Kremlev’s controversial contribution, the Republican said he had “no idea” who the businessman was, and emphasized that he had not paid for the wedding, “which took place in a completely different location and on a different day.”
Although Kremlev’s gift is not illegal, it has caused concern due to the delicate geopolitical context. Since his return to the White House, Trump has promoted a shift in U.S. policy that involves cooling relations with Ukraine and approaching Russia to negotiate an end to the war started in 2022.
It is worth remembering that, in 2017, Donald Trump Jr. was already involved in a scandal due to his ties with Moscow, after it emerged that during the previous year’s election campaign, he had organized a meeting at the Trump Tower in New York with a Russian lawyer who supposedly wanted to provide compromising information about Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential candidate. That meeting was scrutinized as part of the investigation opened by the special prosecutor into the links between Trump’s campaign and Russia.
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