Bettina Trump fired back with a post loaded up with images on social media after a bombshell report that a Russian oligarch helped pay for her lavish wedding to Donald Trump Jr.
The socialite and daughter-in-law of the president took to Instagram to respond to the ProPublica report that Umar Kremlev, head of the International Boxing Association (IBA), paid for hundreds of thousands of dollars in expenses for the president’s eldest son’s glitzy three-day Bahamas wedding weekend in May.
Bettina, 39, called the oligarch windfall a “wedding gift” despite also claiming the weekend party was not originally supposed to be linked to their nuptials.
“Apparently our wedding is making headlines again, so a little clarity seems in order,” she wrote on Instagram. “Don and I got married privately on Friday, surrounded ONLY by our family. It was intimate, deeply personal, and one of the most beautiful days of our lives.”
“The weekend that followed had actually been planned well in advance as a fun weekend with friends. It was never intended to be our wedding weekend,” she continued. “When our original wedding plans changed, we simply decided to get married before it and arrived at an already planned weekend as newlyweds.”
Along with her lengthy post, the newest Mrs. Trump included a series of 20 images of the Trumps partying with friends that weekend, including one of Don Jr. holding her, in a white dress, on a beach as fireworks go off overhead.
“Our dear friend Umar very generously hosted two incredible nights of celebrations for us AFTER our wedding,” she wrote. “It was an extraordinarily generous wedding gift from a friend, and something for which we were and remain incredibly grateful.”
The president’s daughter-in-law called it “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 appeared to completely miss the point of the raised questions when she went on to argue that, “Friendship doesn’t require a political motive,” and “Generosity doesn’t automatically come with an agenda. And sometimes a wedding gift is simply a wedding gift.”
“So, for anyone determined not to let the facts get in the way of a good story: NO CONSPIRACY, NO MYSTERY. Just a private family wedding, a wonderful weekend with friends and one hell of a party,” she concluded, claiming “since fake news travels fast, we figured the truth deserved a few pictures.”
She signed her post: “With love and gratitude, Don & Bettina.”
Among the images she included were photos of her with Don Jr. and the president’s daughters. Ivanka Trump’s husband, Jared Kushner, is not a government employee but is leading negotiations to end Russia’s war against Ukraine. He was also among the 50 guests included in the family gathering funded by a Putin ally.
According to the report, Kremlev spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on some of the biggest expenses for the extravagant event, including renting out the private island where the reception was held and where guests slept.
He also covered the cost of the fireworks show, and his team helped plan the event, three people familiar with it were quoted as saying
While Bettina Trump referred to Kremlev as a “dear friend,” his IBA sporting group has been financed by the Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom. The report said the wedding payments came from an IBA-affiliated entity in Dubai that the association uses for financial transactions.
“If I’m paying for your wedding, at some point, you’re going to owe me something,” retired career FBI official Frank Montoya Jr. told ProPublica. “This should be unthinkable for the son of the president. End of story.”
Bettina Trump previously posted about the “tiny chapel” part of their Bahamas wedding. In another post sharing photos, she called it “Night 2.” In Monday’s post, the photos and outfits were new, but the details still indicated a celebration for the newlyweds, with a sign that read “The Trumps” and other decorations centered on the couple and their May 22 wedding date.
While the president’s older children and spouses were all in attendance for the celebrations, Trump himself was noticeably absent. He told reporters ahead of the wedding weekend that he would “try and make it,” but he argued it was “not good timing” for him, noting the war in Iran.
