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Trump says his son repaid a Russian businessman for a Bahamas wedding party
September 19, 2026
Trump told reporters at the Oval Office that his son has paid back the Russian businessman whose money covered a private island and fireworks at his Bahamas wedding.
Umar Kremlev is a Russian businessman with close ties to President Vladimir Putin, who recently honored him with the Order of Friendship. Donald Trump Jr married Bettina Anderson in the Bahamas in May.
Key facts
- The outlet asked anyone with knowledge of Donald Trump Jr, his companies or his ties to Umar Kremlev to make contact.
- The inquiry began with a rumor that Umar Kremlev, an oligarch from Russia with ties to President Vladimir Putin, was a guest when Donald Trump Jr married in the Bahamas this past May.
- Reporters put the question to the president in the Oval Office on Friday, asking whether his son had been right to take what Umar Kremlev gave.
- Guests who turned up in photographs from the weekend included Jared Kushner and Eric Trump, and every image was studied for any trace of Kremlev.
- Vows were exchanged on Friday on an island that has appeared in “Pirates of the Caribbean” and “Casino Royale,” and Kremlev did not attend that ceremony, which drew an even smaller group of people.
AP News reports that Trump, questioned on Friday at the Oval Office about the gift to his son, said the money is going back to the man who gave it. Trump called the donor a person his son knows, a friend, and recalled his son telling him, “No, I’m paying him back, Dad,” in a conversation he placed some time ago. He also said, “But, as I understand it, he paid them back.” ABC News reports the same exchange and adds that neither the president nor the Trump Organization has produced evidence of a repayment.
ProPublica reports how it placed Umar Kremlev at the wedding weekend: it scoured the images the family released, scanned guests including Jared Kushner and Eric Trump, and found the top of a shaved head in the back row of a sunset beach portrait. ProPublica reports that Kremlev's money covered the rental of a private island and the fireworks a barge launched over the ocean at the Sunday reception, and that the family kept tight control of what pictures existed. AP News reports that Putin recently honored Kremlev with the Order of Friendship, according to the International Boxing Association, and ProPublica reports that Gazprom, the Russian state owned energy company, has financed the IBA. The New York Times ties the after-party for Trump Jr to a Russian businessman's money, and The Washington Post carries Trump's statement that his son has repaid it.
The accounts split on how narrowly Kremlev's role is drawn. One puts it as paying to rent the island and to stage the fireworks show; another states more loosely that he helped fund the celebration, a difference of scope rather than of fact. What is settled is that Kremlev's money reached the wedding weekend in the Bahamas in May and that Trump says the sum is being returned. What is not settled is any evidence of that repayment.
Offering no specifics about the son, Kremlev said, “a person that he knows — I guess a friend of his — gave him a wedding party.”
Kremlev
Still developing
The evidence for the money being paid back has not been provided, and its place in the run of events moves between the accounts.
How settled the reporting is
Sources
- AP News — Trump says his son’s wedding party being bankrolled by a Russian oligarch is ‘totally allowed’ - The Killeen Daily Herald
- abcnews.com — Trump says Donald Trump Jr. repaid Russian oligarch for wedding party
- ProPublica — “Our Dear Friend Umar”: How We Uncovered That a Russian Oligarch Bankrolled Donald Trump Jr.’s Wedding
Toggle read the full reports of 3 of the 5 outlets counted on this event. The other 2 are counted from their headlines and opening sentences.