Donald Trump Jr. and his new wife, Bettina Trump, have weathered a lot in the two-ish years that they’ve been together. First there were the rumors about their budding romance overlapping with Don Jr.’s four-year engagement to Kimberly Guilfoyle. Then their dream of tying the knot at the White House was dashed by Don’s dad starting a war with Iran. And to top it all off, President Donald Trump was unable to attend his eldest son’s lavish Memorial Day wedding weekend on two private islands in the Bahamas because, as he put it on Truth Social, “circumstances pertaining to Government, and my love for the United States of America, do not allow me to do so.”

Through it all, the couple have exhibited true grace under pressure. They quietly uploaded photo after photo of their seaside canoodling and elaborate partying to Instagram with nary a complaint about the sacrifices they’d made as high-profile billionaires in the First Family.

But Don Jr. and Bettina will be silent no longer! They have drawn the line at being called out for letting a Russian oligarch close to Vladimir Putin pay for their wedding.

On Monday, ProPublica revealed that the entire wedding weekend was heavily funded by Umar Kremlev, the head of the International Boxing Association, which is “a scandal-plagued sports group that has been financed by the Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom”:

Kremlev footed the bill for hundreds of thousands of dollars of wedding expenses, according to records reviewed by ProPublica and interviews with three people familiar with the event. The oligarch paid to rent out one of the private islands, where a reception was held and where guests slept. He also covered other big-ticket items, like the fireworks show, and his team helped plan the event. […] The wedding payments came from an IBA-affiliated entity in Dubai that the boxing association uses for financial transactions.

Kremlev footed the bill for hundreds of thousands of dollars of wedding expenses, according to records reviewed by ProPublica and interviews with three people familiar with the event. The oligarch paid to rent out one of the private islands, where a reception was held and where guests slept. He also covered other big-ticket items, like the fireworks show, and his team helped plan the event. […] The wedding payments came from an IBA-affiliated entity in Dubai that the boxing association uses for financial transactions.

Don Jr. has repeatedly said that the wedding was extremely intimate; even some of his close business associates did not get an invitation. The many photos posted online mainly feature the couple’s close friends and family members, including Jared........

© Daily Intelligencer