Russian oligarch Umar Kremlev, who paid for part of Donald Trump Jr.’s extravagant wedding weekend, has said the president’s son has reimbursed him for it.
“Yes, he did,” Umar Kremlev told an International Boxing Association press conference in Istanbul on Tuesday. “He did repay the money I spent on the present.”
He added that he felt it was unnecessary for Don Jr. to have returned the money.
“Frankly speaking, I do not understand why he decided to do so,” he continued. “There are all kinds of events organized by all kinds of people. It is as if I invite you to come and visit my country house. Would you expect me to issue an invoice to them afterward?”
He said that would be “ridiculous.”
Kremlev had paid hundreds of thousands in wedding expenses for Don Jr.’s marriage to Palm Beach socialite Bettina Trump. The lavish wedding was held over three days in the Bahamas.
While he did not attend the actual wedding ceremony, he and several of his associates were a part of a larger guest list of around 50 people who joined the couple for the wider weekend celebrations.
Bettina had called Kremlev’s payment a “wedding gift,” as she fired off on social media defending it.
“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.”
“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.
President Donald Trump, who did not attend his son’s second wedding, had defended the arrangement, but had said to reporters the money would be paid back.
“It’s totally allowed,” he said. “But, as I understand it, he paid them back.”
“That’s very common,” he added, “I’ve given wedding parties to numerous people.”
Kremlev, who was recently honored at an event by Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, had played down the significance of his gift to the new couple.
“I mean, why can’t we be friends? We are just friends,” he went on. “We are simply friends and what unites us is love for sports.”
Before Kremlev had revealed that Jr. paid him back, lawmakers on Capitol Hill, including Republicans, had been calling for an investigation into the matter.
“The secretive and exorbitant gifts you have received as the son of a sitting U.S. President from a member of Putin’s inner circle raises serious national security and public corruption concerns,” Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia wrote in a Trump Jr.
He asked Trump Jr. to maintain records related to his communications and interactions with Kremlev, and to answer questions about their relationship.
Even as Kremlev has seemingly been paid back, it remains unclear why the Trumps accepted the cash, given that Russian oligarchs often act in coordination with the Russian government and considering Trump Jr. himself is also worth an estimated $300 million.
But the president’s eldest son has been under immense scrutiny over the years for his ties to Russia.
During his father’s 2016 presidential campaign, he met with a Russian attorney in Trump Tower to discuss potentially incriminating information about his father’s then-Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton. That meeting was used as a key piece of information in federal investigations looking into whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia to meddle in the elections on their behalf.
