Trump says his son paid back Russian billionaire who funded parts of wedding celebration

President Donald Trump on Friday claimed his son, Donald Trump Jr., paid back the Russian billionaire who spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund parts of Trump Jr.’s wedding celebration in the Bahamas.

“As I understand it, he paid him back,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, referring to Umar Kremlev, the Kremlin-connected businessman who ProPublica reported paid for aspects of the party.

The assertion by Trump is the most serious sign from the administration of possible discomfort with the payment, although the president also said it was common for someone’s friend to pay for a celebration connected to their wedding.

“A person that he knows — I guess, a friend of his — gave him a wedding party. That’s very common. I’ve heard of many people giving wedding parties,” Trump said.

When asked if it was appropriate for Kremlev to fund the celebration, Trump said, “it’s totally allowed” and dismissed concerns about Kremlev’s ties to the Kremlin, saying “maybe (Trump Jr.) didn’t do a background check.”

Trump Jr. and his wife Bettina Anderson had previously confirmed in a statement that Kremlev funded aspects of their wedding party, and defended their acceptance of the gift. The statement — posted to Anderson’s Instagram account, but signed “Don & Bettina” — cast the celebration Kremlev hosted as being after the actual wedding ceremony.

“Our dear friend Umar very generously hosted two incredible nights of celebrations for us AFTER our wedding. It was an extraordinarily generous wedding gift from a friend, and something for which we were and remain incredibly grateful,” the statement said.

“It’s unfortunate that something so personal and happy can be recast as something political or sinister simply because of who someone is or where they come from,” it continued. “Friendship doesn’t require a political motive. Generosity doesn’t automatically come with an agenda. And sometimes a wedding gift is simply a wedding gift.”

Addressing a question about the Russian billionaire earlier this week, Attorney General Todd Blanche said Trump “doesn’t know who this person is,” and shrugged off the idea his department would investigate.

“When you say, ‘Am I investigating?’ Am I investigating what?” Blanche said.

周五，唐纳德·特朗普总统声称，他的儿子小唐纳德·特朗普已经偿还了那位俄罗斯亿万富翁数十万美元的款项，这笔钱用于资助小特朗普在巴哈马举行的婚礼的部分费用。

“据我了解，他已经还钱给他了，”特朗普在椭圆形办公室告诉记者，他指的是与克里姆林宫有联系的商人乌马尔·克雷姆列夫，据 ProPublica 报道，克雷姆列夫曾为该党的部分活动买单。

特朗普的说法是政府方面对这笔付款可能感到不安的最严重迹象，尽管总统也表示，朋友为与婚礼相关的庆祝活动买单是很常见的。

“他认识的一个人——我猜是他的朋友——给他办了婚宴。这很常见。我听说过很多人都办婚宴，”特朗普说。

当被问及克里姆林宫为庆祝活动提供资金是否合适时，特朗普表示，“这完全允许”，并驳斥了有关克里姆林宫与克里姆林宫关系的担忧，称“也许（小特朗普）没有进行背景调查”。

小特朗普和妻子贝蒂娜·安德森此前在一份声明中证实，克雷姆列夫资助了他们婚礼的部分活动，并为他们接受这份礼物辩护。这份声明发布在安德森的Instagram账号上，署名为“唐和贝蒂娜”，声明中称克雷姆列夫举办的庆祝活动是在正式婚礼仪式之后。

声明中写道：“我们亲爱的朋友乌玛尔非常慷慨地在我们婚礼后为我们举办了两晚精彩绝伦的庆祝活动。这是朋友送给我们的一份极其慷慨的结婚礼物，我们当时和现在都对此无比感激。”

“令人遗憾的是，如此私人且幸福的事情，仅仅因为送礼人的身份或出身，就可能被曲解为政治事件或别有用心之事，”声明继续说道。“友谊不需要政治动机。慷慨并不一定带有某种目的。有时，结婚礼物仅仅是结婚礼物而已。”

本周早些时候，司法部长托德·布兰奇在回答有关这位俄罗斯亿万富翁的问题时表示，特朗普“不知道这个人是谁”，并否认他的部门会对此进行调查。

“当你问‘我是在调查吗？’的时候，我到底在调查什么？”布兰奇说道。