Donald Trump says son is repaying Russian businessman for Bahamian wedding party

Oval Office remarks on wedding funding

President Donald Trump stated on Friday, 18 September 2026, that his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., is reimbursing Russian businessman Umar Kremlev for expenditures tied to a post-wedding celebration in the Bahamas. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump responded to questions regarding the funding, noting that his son told him about the repayment plan after reports first emerged. When initial reports surfaced, the president had previously stated that he did not know Kremlev.

No, I'm paying it back, Dad. And that was a while ago. So I heard he's paying.

Trump defended the arrangement during the Oval Office briefing, describing the hosting of wedding festivities by acquaintances as totally allowed and very common. He added that many people host wedding events for others and that he had hosted numerous celebrations himself in the past. Trump did not specify the method or timing of the repayment, and news organizations including Reuters and the BBC reported that they had not independently verified whether funds were transferred.

Bahamian celebration and congressional inquiry

The public statements followed an investigative report by ProPublica detailing how Kremlev spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to host festivities after the wedding of Donald Trump Jr. and Bettina Anderson in May 2026. The three-day gathering was held across two private islands, with Kremlev covering costs for fireworks, post-wedding receptions, and the rental fees for one of the private islands.

Following the revelations, Democrats in the US Congress opened an investigation into the financial contributions. Trump Jr. and Bettina Trump confirmed the financial arrangement in a joint statement posted to Bettina Trump's Instagram account, describing the contributions as an extraordinarily generous wedding gift from a friend and expressing deep gratitude. Although Trump Jr. is a private citizen and does not hold a government position, ethics watchdog groups stated that accepting expensive gifts from a figure connected to a foreign head of state presents the appearance of a conflict of interest. Past scrutiny of the Trump family's Russian contacts includes a 2016 Trump Tower meeting involving Trump Jr. and a Russian operative that was examined during a special counsel investigation.

Umar Kremlev and ties to Moscow

Umar Kremlev is the president of the International Boxing Association (IBA). The sports body, which has received financial backing from the Russian state-controlled energy firm Gazprom, was suspended by the International Olympic Committee over unresolved questions regarding financial governance and ethics standards.

Kremlev holds formal connections with Russian President Vladimir Putin. In April 2026, Putin conferred the Order of Friendship, a top Russian state decoration, on Kremlev during an official presentation accompanied by a photograph of the two men shaking hands. The following month, in May 2026, Kremlev accompanied Putin on an official visit to China as part of a Russian delegation. A spokesperson for Trump Jr. stated that the president's son and Kremlev have been personal friends for several years and maintain no business relationship, while Kremlev's office similarly confirmed to reporters that the two men share a personal friendship.