“Most Openly Corrupt Regime in American History” Gets Even More Corrupt (and Somehow, Tackier)

ProPublica reports that Don Jr.’s Bahamian wedding was financed by a Russian oligarch. What does Russia want in exchange?

LATE LAST YEAR, historian Rutger Bregman called the second Trump administration the “most openly corrupt regime in American history” in a lecture on the BBC. Under pressure from the White House, the BBC cut the line from the aired speech and forbade presenters from quoting it or referencing the editorial decision to remove it.

This week, the administration earned yet another fake-gold-plated star in their line of “most corrupt” accolades. ProPublica reports that Donald Trump Jr.’s tacky Bahamian wedding—which took place over three days across not one, but two private islands—was bankrolled by Russian oligarch Umar Kremlev. There was a private firework display. A five-tier funfetti cake (for a wedding? really?) was flown in from Florida. Guests island-hopped on helicopters. Don Jr. even got jawline definition treatment for the event.

But a pile of Russian money and plastic surgery—what we could reasonably call “gender-affirming care”— still couldn’t buy little Donnie a group photo where he didn’t look like he was mid-sneeze:

Bless you, Don.

Jokes aside, I’m old enough to remember when the MAGA universe went absolutely apeshit about Hunter Biden taking an ill-advised position on a Ukrainian gas company’s board. Allegations that members of the Biden family were “bribed” were lies, and the FBI source who made the claim pled guilty to lying to the FBI about it.

Where MAGA is concerned, every accusation is a confession. Unhappy to simply spin tales of the Biden family’s alleged corruption, Don Jr. decided to live it, evidently accepting Kremlev’s offer of financial support for his wedding. After the ProPublica story appeared, Don Jr. and wife Bettina Anderson acknowledged that Kremlev—who they called a “dear friend”—had “very generously hosted” two nights of celebrations, calling it an “extraordinarily generous wedding gift from a friend.”

Born Umar Lutfulloyev, Kremlev changed his name in 2010 after criminal charges of extortion and battery. He joined the pro-Kremlin biker gang the Night Wolves, became the head of the Russian Boxing Federation, and in 2020 ascended to the presidency of the International Boxing Association, which ProPublica reports “had been beset by corruption allegations and was on the brink of insolvency.” Kremlev secured funding for IBA from Russian state oil company Gazprom. A former IBA board member told ProPublica: “Umar is guided by Putin. [IBA uses] the sport for soft political power. It’s geopolitics. That it’s boxing is just happenstance.” In his spare time, Kremlev is involved with a group that Ukraine has sanctioned for abducting Ukrainian children from Russian-occupied territories.

Counterintelligence experts told ProPublica that Kremlev’s bankrolling the wedding raised serious red flags:

“If I’m paying for your wedding, at some point, you’re going to owe me something,” said Frank Montoya Jr., a retired career FBI official who held senior counterintelligence roles. Oligarchs like Kremlev often act in coordination with the Russian government. While it’s unclear if that happened here, Trump Jr. put himself in a precarious position, Montoya said. “This should be unthinkable for the son of the president. End of story.”

Holden Triplett, who served as Trump’s counterintelligence director on the National Security Council during his first term, said Russian intelligence frequently seeks to build ties with U.S. government officials and their family members. “Money is a tried-and-true method to gain access,” said Triplett, who also worked for the FBI in Moscow.

Since Don Jr’s late-May, Kremlin-adjacent nuptials, the Trump administration has taken a number of decisions that can be viewed as pro-Moscow:

• In late May, the Trump administration blocked a proposed G7 push to tighten an existing price cap on Russian oil; the price cap limited Russia’s ability to finance its war in Ukraine.

• Just before his son’s oligarch-funded wedding, Trump “return[ed] U.S. brigade combat team levels in Europe to where they stood in 2021, Parnell pointed out. That was before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine prompted a larger American military presence in Europe.”

• Despite promising otherwise, Trump has yet to grant Ukraine a license to produce Patriot interceptors in-country, which would be a boon for Ukraine’s safety along with American defense tech profits.

• Earlier this month, Trump sent inexperienced negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Moscow and Kyiv to negotiate a peace deal; the result was a lot of puffery for Putin and precious little action to stop his indiscriminate killing of Ukrainians.

• Just last week, Trump requested that Zelenskyy and Ukraine stop striking Russian oil infrastructure.

We know Trump and his administration are not beneath a little quid pro quo. With Kash Patel scheduled to travel to Russia in a month and a historically weak president barreling toward a midterm election that is likely to be a bruiser for MAGA, we should be vigilant as we wait for the other shoe to drop in the Kremlin-funded wedding gambit. 🧭

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With gratitude,
Nina