ANJALI KAMAT: Congressional Democrats have opened an investigation after ProPublica revealed that a Russian oligarch close to Vladimir Putin bankrolled part of Donald Trump Jr.'s Bahamas wedding in May. ProPublica revealed Umar Kremlev paid hundreds of thousands of dollars on wedding expenses, including the rental of a private island. Kremlev also attended the intimate wedding. Others attendees included Trump Jr.'s sister Ivanka, his brother-in-law Jared Kushner and his brother Eric Trump. The president did not attend. Altogether, the guest list numbered around 50.

Umar Kremlev, who is seen in photos at the wedding, is the president of the International Boxing Association. Just weeks before the wedding, Putin awarded him the Order of Friendship.

Donald Trump Jr. and his newlywed wife, Bettina Anderson, confirmed ProPublica’s findings, writing on social media, quotem, “Our dear friend Umar very generously hosted two incredible nights of celebrations for us … It’s 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.”

AMY GOODMAN: Democratic Congressmember Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said the bankrolling of the wedding raises, quote, “serious national security and public corruption concerns,” unquote. And this is Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut speaking on the Senate floor.

SEN. CHRIS MURPHY: Never before has a foreign enemy of the United States paid for the family wedding of the president. Why? Because it is naked corruption, in plain view. It is as close to treason as you get — accepting lavish gifts, millions of dollars in gifts perhaps, from the enemy of this nation.

ANJALI KAMAT: On Tuesday, Attorney General Todd Blanche, who is Trump’s former personal lawyer, was asked if the Justice Department would probe the funding of the wedding.

ATTORNEY GENERAL TODD BLANCHE: The president doesn’t know who this person is. I think other members of the family don’t know who this person is. The president’s son has said that he’s a very close friend and that he accepted a gift in the weekend of his wedding. … When you say, “Am I investigating,” am I investigating what? And when you say this person is a friend of Putin, I don’t even know if that’s true or not.

AMY GOODMAN: And in a statement, President Trump said, quote, “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 from the wedding. It was an 'afterparty' given in their honor. Not a big deal! I was not present at the party,” Trump said.

We’re joined now by Joshua Kaplan, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for ProPublica. He co-authored the exposé, “Donald Trump Jr.’s Bahamas Wedding Was Secretly Bankrolled by Russian Oligarch Close to Putin.”

Joshua, thanks for joining us. Why don’t we start off by you just explaining: Who is Umar Kremlev?

JOSHUA KAPLAN: So, I think the most important thing to understand about Kremlev is the level of his connection with the Russian government. Right before the wedding, he wasn’t just making sure his suit still fits; he was reportedly traveling in China as part of Putin’s delegation there. As you said, a month earlier, he got the latest in a series of state honors that he’s received from Putin. After Russia invaded Ukraine, the Ukrainian government sanctioned Kremlev personally.

And that government connection is a throughline throughout Kremlev’s entire life story. He was an obscure figure with a criminal record and a different name. He changed his name, and over the course of his — the government has given him assets and taken other actions that have turned him into a very wealthy magnate, a dominant figure in the sports betting world in Russia. Really, it’s impossible to understand him and his story without talking about and thinking about his connection with Putin and Putin’s inner circle.

ANJALI KAMAT: And, Josh, how exactly did he meet Don Jr.? I mean, this is a guy who used to be part of a right-wing biker gang in Russia?

JOSHUA KAPLAN: Yeah, I mean, it’s an excellent question. It’s not something we fully understand yet. I mean, the strangest thing about this is that Don Jr. met this guy only very recently. Kremlev’s office told us that they met a couple of years ago. Don Jr. said they met through a mutual friend in the hunting world and quickly hit it off because they both love boxing and the outdoors. But how things got to this point, where Umar is not only attending this very intimate wedding but also paying for it, is very much a mystery.

AMY GOODMAN: And President Trump trying to make a distinction between paying for the actual wedding — it was very small. It was like 50 people, right?

JOSHUA KAPLAN: Yes.

AMY GOODMAN: Ten of them were part of this Russian party, 20% of the party. So, there was a wedding and then these celebrations, the fireworks.

JOSHUA KAPLAN: Yeah. I mean, so, I think it’s a mistake to get bogged down in this distinction. Really what we’re talking about is a reception. The, quote-unquote, “afterparty” the president is referring to is where they had their first dance and ate wedding cake. The ceremony itself was just family. The oligarch did not attend that. The rest of this lavish, lavish wedding weekend was attended by Umar and this Russian entourage and paid for by Kremlev.

ANJALI KAMAT: And there were 10 people in the Russian entourage at a wedding of 50 people.

JOSHUA KAPLAN: That’s about right, yeah.

ANJALI KAMAT: And, I mean, Don Jr.’s wealth is put at about $300 million. Did he need anybody to pay for the wedding? What do we know about why Umar paid for this wedding?

JOSHUA KAPLAN: You know, I mean, the basic fact we have is that a member of Putin’s circle is financially supporting the president’s son. As soon as we get to why, I mean, we start to have all these really weird questions come up. Junior is rich. It seems like he could have afforded this himself. That doesn’t mean he has $300 million in his checking account, of course, but still. This is objectively — it’s very strange. And the other big question that we don’t know is: What’s Kremlev’s motive here? I mean, he spent a lot of money seemingly successfully cultivating a relationship with the son of the president, and we have no idea why.

AMY GOODMAN: And now the other son, one of the other sons, Trump Jr.'s brother Eric, when you asked, put in a request for Eric's response, who was at the wedding, he said this about Kremlev: quote, “Eric has absolutely no clue who this person is, nor has never heard his name.” We’re talking about a wedding party that went over days, and there were only 50 people there altogether. It’s like he didn’t get his brother’s memo, because his brother and his brother’s new wife, they have admitted.

JOSHUA KAPLAN: Yeah, I mean, and this was — I mean, this was a very small wedding. I mean, Don has repeatedly said that it was just family and some, quote, “really close friends.” I mean, frankly, there were some longtime friends of his that were understandably disappointed that they didn’t make the cut. And then you have Umar, this big guy, shaved head, who not only met Don Jr. very recently but also only speaks limited English, and this large crew of Russians he came with. I mean, it was apparently — we talked to people there, and it was quite the scene. It was intimate setting, Palm Beach socialites, Jared Kushner, and then this large group that no one knew who sometimes stood off by themselves speaking Russian.

ANJALI KAMAT: What do we know about possible future cooperation between Don Jr. and Umar Kremlev?

JOSHUA KAPLAN: Not much. I mean, there is a press release that — so, the only instance that we actually know about, besides what they talked — just the kind of vague story in their statements, of them having a relationship before this was last year. In September, this boxing organization that Kremlev runs hosted a panel discussion in Istanbul about boxing. And the panelists were Manny Pacquiao, Muhammad Ali’s daughter, and then Donald Trump Jr. I mean, people who went were a little confused of why is Don Jr. here talking about sports with legends of the boxing world.

After that event, Umar’s organization had a press release where they said, “This alliance will not remain symbolic. More joint initiatives will follow.” What does that mean? We don’t know. We asked both Kremlev and Don Jr., and neither of them said.

AMY GOODMAN: So, you’ve done several pieces on this. Now the House Oversight Committee, Congressmember Garcia, is calling for a federal investigation. What would this look like, as you have the House Speaker Johnson desperately trying to recess Congress until after the elections?

JOSHUA KAPLAN: I think, realistically, this House investigation means nothing right now, except there was a document preservation request in these letters. So, Don Jr. is under legal notice to keep all of his records related to this relationship. If the Democrats retake the House in the fall, we could be talking about something very different next year if Congress continues to be interested in looking into this.

AMY GOODMAN: Joshua Kaplan, we want to thank you for being with us, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for ProPublica. We’ll link to your pieces, the latest, “Donald Trump Jr.’s Bahamas Wedding Was Secretly Bankrolled by Russian Oligarch Close to Putin.”

Coming up, “The Elimination Project.” The Israeli human rights group B’Tselem has accused Israel of dramatically escalating its assault on all aspects of Palestinian life in the occupied West Bank. Stay with us.

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AMY GOODMAN: “Tama,” “Greed,” by the Palestinian oud musician Huda Asfour, performing in our Democracy Now! studio.