Couple calls Kremlev ‘dear friend’; Trump says he doesn’t know him
Umar Kremlev, president of the International Boxing Association — a sports league funded by Russian state energy company Gazprom — paid for two nights of after-party celebrations following Donald Trump Jr. and Bettina Anderson’s May wedding in the Bahamas, according to a ProPublica report cited by United Press International.
Kremlev has ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, UPI reported. The International Boxing Association is funded by Russian state energy company Gazprom.
Kremlev’s gift to the couple included the costs of event planning, a fireworks show and the rental of a private island that costs about $100,000 per night, UPI reported, citing ProPublica. The total bill ran into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Trump Jr. and Anderson acknowledged the gift in a statement posted to social media on Monday. “Our dear friend Umar very generously hosted two incredible nights of celebrations for us AFTER our wedding,” the couple wrote. “It was an extraordinarily generous wedding gift from a friend, and something for which we were and remain incredibly grateful.”
The lavish gift breaks from the norms of a first family in the United States, UPI reported. The family of the president is expected to avoid taking expensive gifts because doing so gives the appearance of political, and in this case foreign, influence, according to UPI.
President Donald Trump did not attend the wedding or the after-party. He said at the time that the wedding was “a small little private affair” and that he would not attend because he was occupied with the Iran war.
On Monday, the White House shared a separate statement from the president with The New York Times. “I have no idea who Umar is, never heard of him, and he didn’t pay for Don and Bettina’s wedding, which took place at a totally different location, and on a different day,” Trump’s statement read. “It was an ‘after-party’ given in their honor. Not a big deal!”
The public record is split: Trump Jr. and Anderson thank Kremlev by name as a friend who hosted the celebrations, while the president maintains he does not know who Kremlev is and frames the gift as an after-party given to the couple rather than a wedding Kremlev paid for.