Curtis seeks subpoenas for Trump Jr. and Hunter Biden

Republican Sen. John Curtis of Utah is asking the Senate Judiciary Committee to subpoena Donald Trump Jr. and Hunter Biden as part of a proposed investigation into whether presidential family ties have been used for private financial benefit, preferential treatment or access by domestic and foreign interests.

Curtis sent the request to committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, and ranking Democrat Dick Durbin of Illinois after reporting that a Russian oligarch helped pay for post-wedding celebrations for Trump Jr. and Bettina Anderson in the Bahamas in May.

“A toaster is a wedding gift. A private-island party paid for by a Putin-connected oligarch is something else,” Curtis wrote on X. “Republicans nearly wore out the subpoena machine investigating Hunter Biden’s foreign relationships. We should not unplug it now.”

In his letter, Curtis urged the committee to seek testimony from both men about their business dealings, relationships with foreign individuals and entities, gifts they received, and any circumstances in which a connection to a president “was invoked or understood to provide value,” The Guardian reported.

Curtis pointed to Hunter Biden’s “substantial business” with foreign entities, including in China and Ukraine, while his father, former President Joe Biden, was in office or seeking office. He also cited questions about Trump Jr.’s relationships with foreign business figures and “the acceptance of significant gifts.”

“These include a lavish wedding afterparty, on a private island, provided by Russian oligarch Umar Kremlev, who reportedly traveled to China as part of a delegation accompanying Vladimir Putin shortly before giving the gift,” Curtis wrote.

ProPublica reported last week that Kremlev, a Russian boxing official with close ties to Putin, helped cover the cost of renting a private island and staging a fireworks display for Trump Jr.’s wedding celebrations. Anderson, now Bettina Trump, confirmed on Instagram that Kremlev hosted some of the couple’s post-wedding festivities on a private island as “an extraordinarily generous wedding gift,” CBS News reported. The Guardian reported that she described Kremlev as a “dear friend” who hosted two nights of celebrations.

President Trump did not attend the ceremony, according to The Guardian. The outlet reported that he defended Kremlev’s involvement and said he had been told by Trump Jr. that the money would eventually be reimbursed, while also saying that giving a wedding party as a gift is “totally allowed” and “very common.”

Curtis has publicly criticized the gift. Last week, he said on social media that “it just stinks — it’s corruption,” calling it a “big deal” and previewing his plan to seek congressional action.

In his letter, Curtis also cited Trump Jr.’s promotion of family cryptocurrency ventures, pursuit of international real estate deals and ties to prediction-market platforms. He said the 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.”

“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,” Curtis wrote.

Curtis said the investigation should “establish the facts, determine whether existing ethics, disclosure, or anti-corruption laws apply, and identify reforms necessary to prevent the presidency from becoming a vehicle for private enrichment by those closest to it.”

The Guardian reported that Trump Jr. was previously scrutinized in the Robert Mueller investigation after he attended a 2016 Trump Tower meeting with a Russian lawyer who had promised damaging information on Hillary Clinton. The outlet also reported that House Republicans spent much of 2023 and 2024 investigating whether Hunter Biden traded on his father’s name in overseas business dealings, producing a report alleging a conspiracy to enrich the Biden family but not leading to impeachment articles reaching a House vote. The Bidens denied wrongdoing throughout.

“‘Trust us’ was not enough then,” Curtis wrote, “and it is not enough now.”