Donald Trump Jr. spent two days this summer in a remote Mongolian hunting camp with Umar Kremlev, a Russian businessman with close ties to the Kremlin, the Financial Times reported Tuesday.
Kremlev was previously revealed to have partly funded Trump Jr.’s wedding on a private Caribbean island in May. U.S. President Donald Trump later said his son repaid Kremlev for those expenses after they were reported by ProPublica last month.
Their latest known meeting took place in western Mongolia, according to flight records and local guides cited by the FT, where Trump Jr. was hunting wild game accompanied by a U.S. Secret Service protective detail.
Kremlev was said to have flown from a boxing press conference in Kazakhstan to the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar on a private jet before traveling directly to Trump Jr.’s camp.
A local on that trip told the FT that Trump Jr. and Kremlev were cautious about being photographed together.
Trump Jr.’s Mongolian expedition was partially funded through a charity auction that paid winning bidders up to $140,000 for access to the president’s son.
Experts, including former U.S. counterintelligence officials, told the FT that personal contacts between the relatives of American presidents and those with links to the Kremlin pose serious security risks.
Kremlev is under Ukrainian sanctions due to his ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin through Alexei Rubezhny, head of the Kremlin leader’s security service.
Trump Jr.’s spokesperson told the FT that his friendship with Kremlev “is largely based on their shared love for hunting, fishing and the outdoors.”
“Don has made clear that he has a personal friendship, not a business relationship, with Umar… It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that they went hunting together earlier this year,” the spokesperson was quoted as saying.
Kremlev, who heads the International Boxing Association (IBA), did not respond to the FT’s requests for comment.
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