Republicans Break With Trump Over Don Jr.’s Lavish Wedding ‘Gift’ From Russian Oligarch

A Republican senator has received some unexpected support in his pledge to subpoena President Donald Trump’s son over his ties to a Russian oligarch who helped fund his wedding earlier this year.

In a letter addressed to Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) Tuesday, Sen. John Curtis (R-Utah) called for an investigation into Donald Trump Jr.’s business dealings with Umar Kremlev, a businessman with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Curtis’ letter arrived days after a bombshell ProPublica report which found that Kremlev rented a private island in the Bahamas and paid for a fireworks display in honor of Donald Trump Jr.’s wedding to Bettina Anderson earlier this year.

When confronted with the report, Donald Trump defended Kremlev’s gifts as “totally allowed,” noting that his son had already “paid [Kremlev] back.” Anderson, meanwhile, similarly defended Kremlev’s “extraordinarily generous wedding gift,” writing on Instagram: “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.”

In his letter, however, Curtis said Republicans should apply the same scrutiny to Trump Jr. as they did to former President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden, who was issued a subpoena in 2023.

“The country should not have to accept one standard for the family of a Republican president and another for the family of a Democratic president,” he wrote.

In a post shared to X Tuesday, he doubled down on that stance, noting: “A toaster is a wedding gift. A private-island party paid for by a Putin-connected oligarch is something else. Republicans nearly wore out the subpoena machine investigating Hunter Biden’s foreign relationships. We should not unplug it now.”

Curtis’ letter has been perceived as a break from the Republican Party, which has widely ignored concerns over the Trump family’s business deals and self-enrichment schemes. Not long after the letter was delivered to Grassley, however, two additional Republican senators and members of the Judiciary panel said they would support Curtis’ call for an investigation.

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who is retiring, described Donald Trump Jr.’s acceptance of Kremlev’s gifts as “colossally bad judgment at best,” per The Associated Press. In a separate interview with The Hill, he added: “If the House flips next year, you know there’s going to be an investigation one way or the other.”

Echoing those sentiments was Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who told The Hill: “I’m with Sen. Curtis. I would support Sen. Curtis’s request.”

News of the letter also drew a cheeky retort from Hunter Biden, who wrote on X: “I had no foreign business dealings while my father was president. None. I painted paintings, and I still do. I’ll sit next to Don Jr. and testify any time, any place. Eric and Jared can join us too. No need for a subpoena. Let’s all do it tomorrow.”

As of Tuesday, Grassley acknowledged he had yet to read the letter. “I’ve got people that are concerned about not having a hearing on social media companies, and I got people coming in today to ask me that,” he told The Hill. “That’s one of the problems I’m dealing with.”