Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House oversight committee, is investigating potential ties between the White House and a Russian oligarch who paid for a portion of Donald Trump Jr’s wedding.
In a letter sent to Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff, on Monday, Garcia expressed concern about “any possible foreign entanglement” between the president’s son and the oligarch, Umar Kremlev. Garcia asked Wiles to provide documents, records and communications between the White House and Trump Jr about Kremlev, among other requests.
“As the son of President Donald Trump and the part-owner and major investor of multiple companies with extensive Department of Defense contracts, any apparent ties to members of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle raises serious questions about pay-to-play schemes and foreign intelligence infiltration of the President’s family,” Garcia wrote in the letter.
In a separate letter addressed to Trump Jr, Garcia expressed similar worries and asked the president’s son to provide more details about his wedding events bankrolled by Kremlev, including: all dates of communication between Trump Jr and Kremlev, any communications Trump Jr may have had with the White House about Kremlev, financial records of purchases made by foreign nationals and a complete list of wedding gifts from foreign nationals.
It came just hours after ProPublica revealed that the Kremlev spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on wedding celebrations for Trump Jr and his wife, Bettina, earlier this year. The couple also confirmed Kremlev’s financial involvement on Monday.
“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,” the US president said in a statement in response to the report.
“Why did a Russian oligarch close to Putin fund Trump Jr.’s wedding in the Bahamas?” Garcia wrote on X after the ProPublica report was published.
Garcia added: “Umar Kremlev spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on the President’s son. What did he get in return? We need answers.”
Axios was the first to report on Garcia’s letter.
The investigation into Trump Jr’s wedding is part of the House Oversight Committee Democrats’ larger investigation into the ways the Trump family has allegedly enriched themselves since President Donald Trump took office last year.
The Guardian reached out to Garcia’s office and the White House for further comment.
