From ABC News · ABC News · · 2m
A Russian oligarch paid for Don Jr.'s wedding party
ProPublica says a Putin-linked boxing boss covered a private island and fireworks for Donald Trump Jr.'s post-wedding celebration.
In brief
ProPublica says a Putin-linked boxing boss covered a private island and fireworks for Donald Trump Jr.'s post-wedding celebration. A man decorated by Putin months earlier paid for two nights of celebration for the president's son, and nobody involved disputes it happened. Originally reported by ABC News.
The claim
ProPublica reported Monday that a Russian oligarch with ties to Vladimir Putin paid hundreds of thousands of dollars toward events around Donald Trump Jr.'s wedding to Bettina Anderson. ABC News has not independently confirmed it.
Who paid
The money allegedly came from Umar Kremlev, president of the International Boxing Association. Payments reportedly flowed through an entity affiliated with the IBA rather than from him personally.
What it bought
According to the report, Kremlev covered the rental of a private island and a fireworks show for the celebrations that followed the May wedding in the Bahamas.
Trump waves it off
The president said Kremlev paid for an afterparty at a different place on a different day, and that he has never met the man. He said he was not there.
“I have no idea who Umar is, never heard of him”
The bride responds
Anderson did not dispute the payments. She posted that a friend hosted two nights of celebration after a ceremony attended only by family, and called it a generous gift.
“NO CONSPIRACY, NO MYSTERY”
No denial from the spokesperson
Trump Jr.'s spokesperson also declined to dispute the payments when ProPublica asked. The explanation offered was friendship, not business.
“Umar is a personal friend of Don.”
How they say they met
The two men reportedly met a couple of years ago through a mutual friend in the hunting world and bonded over boxing and the outdoors. Kremlev's press office described a friendly relationship.
Kremlev's standing in Moscow
He recently traveled to China with Putin's delegation and was awarded the Order of Friendship, a Russian state honor. Russia ran coordinated interference campaigns in the 2016 and 2020 US elections.
Why the guest list matters
Trump Jr. runs the family business and still carries weight in his father's political circle, including pushing JD Vance for the 2024 ticket. Attendees found the large Russian contingent puzzling.
The president stayed home
Trump skipped the Bahamas wedding, citing government duties and the war with Iran, and canceled his planned Bedminster trip to stay in Washington that weekend.
“I have a thing called Iran and other things”
The bottom line
A man decorated by Putin months earlier paid for two nights of celebration for the president's son, and nobody involved disputes it happened.
