Trump Jr.'s Wedding Weekend Partly Funded by Russian Oligarch, Couple Says

Donald Trump Jr.'s wife, Bettina, has confirmed that a portion of the couple's May wedding weekend celebrations in the Bahamas was funded by Umar Kremlev, a Russian businessman with close ties to President Vladimir Putin.

In a post on her Instagram page on Monday morning, signed by both her and Trump Jr., Bettina Trump described Kremlev as a "dear friend" who "very generously hosted two incredible nights of celebrations for us AFTER our wedding." She added that the support was "an extraordinarily generous wedding gift from a friend, and something for which we were and remain incredibly grateful."

The confirmation followed a report by the nonprofit investigative outlet ProPublica, which said Kremlev had covered hundreds of thousands of dollars in wedding expenses. According to that report, the spending included renting one of two private islands where the three-day party took place and paying for a fireworks display.

In her post, Bettina Trump said the couple had married in a private ceremony "surrounded ONLY by our family." She explained that the weekend that followed had been arranged well in advance as a gathering with friends and was never intended to serve as their wedding weekend. When their original wedding plans changed, she said, they decided to marry beforehand and arrived at the already scheduled weekend as newlyweds.

She also pushed back against the attention the story has drawn, writing that 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." She added: "Friendship doesn't require a political motive. Generosity doesn't automatically come with an agenda. And sometimes a wedding gift is simply a wedding gift."

The disclosure comes as Russia remains at war following its invasion of Ukraine, and as the president has yet to broker a promised peace deal between the two nations.

Kremlev heads the International Boxing Association and was recently awarded the Order of Friendship by Putin, according to the organization. He has also traveled to China as part of a Russian delegation, according to Chinese state media cited in the ProPublica report.

Trump Jr. has faced scrutiny over his Russian connections before. During the 2016 campaign, a meeting he took at Trump Tower with Russian attorney Natalia Veselnitskaya drew intense attention from federal and congressional investigators examining whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia to interfere in the election. The meeting had been presented as a chance to discuss potentially damaging information about his father's Democratic opponent, Hillary Rodham Clinton, as part of Moscow's efforts to help the elder Trump win the White House.