Trump Jr under scrutiny from own party over Putin-linked oligarch's lavish gift

A Senate Republican is going after a new target to battle corruption: Donald Trump Jr. Sen. John Curtis, R-Utah, is pushing the Senate Judiciary Committee, led by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, to launch investigations into Trump Jr. and Hunter Biden, a familiar target for the GOP. He wants both subpoenaed, and for both to testify before the panel over alleged foreign business dealings and corruption bolstered by their fathers’ status. In a letter to Grassley, Curtis argued that serious questions had come up about presidential family members using the influence of their presidential patriarch to boost their business dealings. TRUMP-BACKED CRYPTO BILL FAILS TO LAUNCH AS DEMS, REPUBLICANS UNITE TO BLOCK IT Those questions started with Biden and his alleged use of former President Joe Biden as an access point and have continued following reports of Trump Jr.’s lavish wedding after-party on a private island provided by a Russian oligarch."A toaster is a wedding gift," Curtis said on X highlighting his letter. "A private-island party paid for by a Putin-connected oligarch is something else. Republicans nearly wore out the subpoena machine investigating Hunter Biden’s foreign relationships. We should not unplug it now. ‘Trust us’ was not enough then, and it is not enough now." In the letter, Curtis contended that the concerns over Trump Jr.'s dealings "are compounded by Donald Trump Jr.’s active promotion of family-backed cryptocurrency ventures, his continued pursuit of international real estate deals involving direct meetings with foreign heads of state, and his reported investments in defense contracting." "This pattern extends to his significant financial and advisory ties to prediction market platforms that depend on favorable federal regulatory decisions being considered by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission," he continued. DONALD TRUMP JR AND BETTINA ANDERSON CELEBRATE PRIVATE WEDDING IN BAHAMAS, SHARE SWEET PERSONAL PHOTO The wedding party in May, first reported by ProPublica, was allegedly bankrolled by a Russian oligarch with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin that Trump Jr. had recently met, and who has ties to the scandal-ridden International Boxing Association that is funded, in part, by the Russian state-owned energy company Gazprom. Trump Jr. has also been a key figure in boosting his father’s wealth. The president’s income between 2024 and 2025 ballooned by about 250% — from just over $620 million to about $2.2 billion, thanks in large part to his various holdings and ventures in crypto, which are run by his sons, according to the president’s financial disclosure forms reviewed by Fox News Digital. Curtis noted that nearly three-quarters of Americans believed the federal government to be corrupt, and that the issue of rooting out corruption shouldn’t be a partisan matter. REPUBLICANS TARGET TRUMP'S CRYPTO EMPIRE WITH NEW PLAN, DEMS SAY IT FALLS SHORT "The country should not have to accept one standard for the family of a Republican president and another for the family of a Democratic president," Curtis wrote. "Nor should congressional oversight begin and end when control of the White House changes hands." Republicans launched probe after probe into Hunter Biden’s business dealings and whether his father, former President Joe Biden, was involved. Curtis acknowledged that Biden "has denied involving his father in his business dealings," but countered that his father being in office "opened doors that otherwise may have remained closed." CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP The same, Curtis argued, goes for Trump Jr. "These reports raise legitimate questions about foreign access to members of a sitting president's family and whether such relationships can create actual or perceived expectations of favorable treatment," Curtis wrote. "They also may create expectations of a returned favor that would not be in the best interests of the American people or our allies, and could even create national security vulnerabilities."Fox News Digital did not receive immediate comment from the Trump Organization, White House nor Hunter Biden by publication.