GOP Senator Calls For Don Jr. To Give Receipts He Paid Back $250k Wedding Gift From Russian Oligarch
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) doesn’t like how Donald Trump Jr.’s so-called $250,000 wedding gift from Russian billionaire Umar Kremlev looks, whether he paid the Kremlin-cozy oligarch back or not.
“Face the Nation” anchor Margaret Brennan asked the outgoing senator to weigh in on reports that Kremlev, a businessman with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, helped pay for part of the wedding celebration for socialite Bettina Anderson and the president’s son.
Kremlev reportedly footed the bill for two nights of wedding festivities when the couple celebrated their marriage in the Bahamas in May, though President Donald Trump claimed on Friday that his son has since reimbursed the businessman.
Brennan asked Cassidy whether he thought the gift looked corrupt or if repaying Kremlev even mattered, citing Sen. John Curtis (R-Utah) and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who called the optics “beyond bad.”
“Repaying the funds does make a difference,” he said, before making a separate point about the appearance of impropriety.
“Anytime someone gives a $250,000 gift, and they have strong ties to the Kremlin, that’s wrong,” Cassidy continued. “You — with that proximity to power, being the president’s son, you’ve got to give faith to the American people that Washington is not a swamp.”
The Louisiana lawmaker added that “even though in your mind it might be a gift, the appearance of it is really bad.”
He went on to say he was happy if the costs Kremlev covered were, in fact, repaid but added, “it would be nice to have that kind of verified,” and that all in all, “it shouldn’t have been done in the first place.”
Cassidy has clashed with the president over a number of issues throughout the years.
In June, the GOP senator and the president reportedly got into a shouting match over Cassidy initially backing a war powers resolution to limit Trump’s actions in Iran. He later reversed his vote, however, dooming the resolution.
He was also one of seven Republican senators who voted to convict Trump of impeachment for his involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.