The wife of Donald Trump Jr, Bettina Trump, admitted this Monday that the Russian businessman Umar Kremlev, considered close to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, covered the expenses of two celebrations in the Bahamas. However, she emphasized that in no case did he pay for the wedding costs, thus denying what was published by the ProPublica portal.
As detailed by Bettina Trump in a social media post, Kremlev paid for "two incredible nights of celebration," but not for the wedding ceremony held last May. The daughter-in-law of President Donald Trump emphasized that these parties were already organized before the final date of the wedding was set, which ended up taking place the Friday before the weekend funded by Kremlev.
"Our dear friend Umar generously gave us two nights of celebration after the wedding. It was a very generous wedding gift from a friend for whom we feel and continue to feel tremendously grateful," she noted, insisting that it was a personal gift.
According to the information released this Monday by ProPublica, Kremlev allegedly funded the party in the Bahamas by renting an entire island for more than 100,000 dollars (euros) and paying for a fireworks show, among other expenses related to the event.
In her message, Bettina Trump added that "It was not planned to be our wedding weekend. When our initial wedding plans changed, we decided to get married earlier and arrived at a weekend already planned as newlyweds." Thus, she rejects any "conspiracy" or "mystery" surrounding the celebration and emphasizes that "Friendship does not need political motives."
From Kremlev's press office, they indicated to ProPublica that the businessman has known Donald Trump Jr. for years and that "they have a friendship." For its part, the White House has chosen not to make statements and limits itself to referring to the text published by Bettina Trump on her social media.
Kremlev is at the head of the International Boxing Association, an organization that receives funding from the Russian state company Gazprom, sanctioned by U.S. authorities. Kremlev himself is also on the sanctions list of the Ukrainian government due to his closeness to Putin, whom he accompanied on his recent official trip to China.
ProPublica also recalls other sanctions affecting Kremlev related to an organization linked to his family, which is accused of participating in the kidnapping of Ukrainian minors.