Why did Russia pay for Donald Trump Jr.'s wedding?

Colleagues, a story broke today that the. Trump family has confirmed that a. Russian oligarch, a close ally of. Vladimir Putin, a man whose fortune was. gifted to him by Putin, paid for the. private island wedding of the president. of the United States's son. I'm here on the floor because I am. scared to death that this is all going. to start just feeling normal. Let me say.

it again. a Russian oligarch, a close. ally of our enemy, Vladimir Putin, a man. whose fortune was gifted to him by. Vladimir Putin, paid for secretly the. private island wedding of the president. of the United States's son. The president's son, Donald Trump Jr., tried to hide this fact.

He posted pictures of his wedding. celebration online. There was a public. conversation about whether the president. was going to attend or not. But the president's son made no mention. that the whole thing. worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, a private island, was bankrolled by the. Russians. In fact, the only face of the 50 guests.

that is hidden in the group photo that. you can look at right now online, the. only photo, the only person's face. that's hidden is the oligarch, but he's there. because he secretly paid for the. celebration. The Russians paid for the private. island. The Russians paid for the fireworks. show. The president's son even put this. oligarch in charge of planning the.

logistics. This was a Russian party. organized and paid for by someone in. Vladimir Putin's inner circle. This has never happened before in the. history of the United States of America. Never before has a foreign enemy of the. United States paid for the family. wedding of the president.

Why? Because it is naked corruption in. plain view. It is as close to treason as you get. Accepting. lavish gifts, millions of dollars in. gifts perhaps from the enemy of this. nation. Let's spend a minute on this oligarch. We just learned this today. So, forgive. me if we have scant details. I think. we're going to find out a lot more about.

this guy in the coming days and weeks, but his name is Umar Kremlev. He is a. convicted criminal. He runs a boxing company that is funded. by Putin, more specifically by Gasprom. Putin's state-run gas company. He isn't just some ordinary oligarch. He's one of Putin's favorites. In addition to running this boxing.

association, he runs the Russian. lottery. He has a monopoly on Russian sports. betting. Shortly before financing and attending. the Trump wedding, Kremlv and Putin were. together in China. Putin brought him on. a really important state visit to China. Putin has given Kremlv the highest. Kremlin honor, the Order of Friendship. The Ukrainian government has sanctioned. Kremlv because he is part of Putin's.

inner circle. All of Kremlv's money is. Putin's money. He operates as an arm of. Putin, as do all the Putin made. oligarchs. Before today's disclosure of his secret. financing of the Trump wedding, there. was no record of Donald Trump Jr. and. Kremlv being great best buddies because. they aren't.

It appears that they just recently met. And shortly after meeting, this close. ally of Vladimir Putin offered to pay. for Donald Trump's Junior's wedding. Here's what Eric Trump said today. when a reporter asked his office about. Umar Kremlev, this close friend of. Donald Trump Jr.'s.

Quote, "Eric has absolutely no clue who. this person is, nor has he ever heard. his name.". This is Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr.'s 's brother, his. business partner, has never heard the. name of the close associate, the close. friend of Donald Trump Juniors who paid. for his entire wedding. Why? Because they're not friends.

This is a business deal between the. Trump family and the Russian government. This all fits two patterns. The first is the Trump's family's. reliance on Russian support for their. business empire. Donald Trump Jr. said. this prior to when his president when. his father became president. He said in. terms of he's talking about his family's. business in terms of high-end product. influ influx into the United States.

Russians make up a pretty. disproportionate cross-section of a lot. of our assets say in Dubai and certainly. with our project in Soho and anywhere in. New York we see a lot of money pouring. in from Russia. More recently, those who have looked at the individuals. who are buying Trump's cryptocurrency. have noted that there is evidence that. the Trump family's cryptocurrency is.

backed perhaps heavily by Russian. buyers. But the second and more significant. pattern is this. Trump's sons, particularly Donald Jr., just brazenly. profit off of their access to the White. House. Donald Jr., he just basically stuffs. money into his pockets from anybody who. wants a favor from his father and he. just gobbles up government contracts as.

fast as he can. Don Jr.'s net worth was $50 million. before his father's second term. In the first year that Trump was. president, in his second term, Don Jr.'s net worth didn't double, it. didn't triple, it didn't quadruple. It grew by six times in one year. $50. million. A year later, $300 million.

At least 13 companies tied to the Trump. brothers have captured $1.8 8 billion in. long-term federal contracts and. commitments and $13 million in direct. cash from the Trump administration. Five of those companies got their first. government contract ever after the Trump. sons invested.

That's corruption. It doesn't matter whether this is a. Republican administration or a. Democratic administration. Now, you. could be offended at all of that, but. you might say, "Well, this isn't that. This isn't Trump Jr. taking money from. the taxpayers. This is just him taking. money from the Russians. Isn't that. better than him taking money from. taxpayers?". Of course, it isn't because Putin. doesn't pay for a wedding just to be. nice. This is an arrangement in plain.

sight. Donald Trump has done a 180 degree turn. in US policy on the Russia Ukraine war. He has cut off funding from Ukraine. Even after we appropriate money, he. refuses to spend it illegally. As recent. as as recently as this weekend, he says publicly that it's Ukraine's. fault that the war continues, not. Russia. In addition, Trump has suspended. sanctions on the export of Russian oil.

and gas. which by the way specifically. helps Gasprom, the company that funds. Kreml Kremlv. Trump has become one of Putin's most. important allies. And so, like everything else in Trump's. corrupt world in his second term, it. just becomes this mutually beneficial. deal. Trump withholds support for. Ukraine, pads the pocket of the Russian. governments with sanctions relief, and.

the Russians funnel money to the family. Doesn't everybody see this? Shouldn't everyone here be outraged. today that the president of the United. States's son just had his wedding, his. multi-million dollar wedding paid for by. the Russians and and he admits it. I know that there are a lot of. Republicans in the Senate who are a. gasast.

at what Trump has done to abandon. Ukraine. And I know there are a lot of. Republicans here who are furious at this. spiraling corruption. I don't know that there's a single. member of this body, Republican or. Democrat, who'd go on TV tonight and. defend the Russian government. paying for the Trump family's private. island wedding. But at some point, there just has to be. a bottom that the United States Senate. unanimously recognizes.

Does any Republican here think that you. would say nothing if Hunter Biden's. wedding or Malia Obama's graduation. party was financed by Iranian allies of. the Ayatollah? You guys would shut this place down. if that were to happen. And of course, you can't even imagine. that happening under a different. administration because despite all the. histrionics over the Biden crime family, never before in the history of this.

country have we had a White House where. the financing of a family wedding by a. foreign adversary would pass as a minor. scandal that barely makes the front. pages. Just because the corruption happens so. routinely that to some it feels normal, it doesn't mean that it is. If we don't on a bipartisan basis here. in the Senate draw a line in the sand.

soon, it will be the end of our republic. It just will be. I yield the floor.