‘Really Bad!’ GOP Senator Wrecks Don Jr. Over Russian Oligarch-Funded Wedding

Outgoing Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) slammed Donald Trump Jr. for accepting a $250,000 wedding gift from a Russian oligarch with strong ties to Vladimir Putin, even though President Donald Trump claimed his son has paid back the money.

Face The Nation’s Margaret Brennan asked Cassidy about his Republican colleagues’s strong reactions to news that the oligarch paid for part of Trump Jr.’s wedding to socialite Bettina Anderson in the Bahamas.

“President Trump claimed Friday that his son has now repaid a Russian billionaire named Umar Kremlev after it was reported that he paid for parts of his wedding celebrations in the the Bahamas,” Brennan began.

“Don Jr. originally called it a ‘gift,’ but your Republican colleague from Utah, Sen. [John] Curtis, called it ‘corruption.’ Your colleague from North Carolina, Thom Tillis, said it was ‘beyond bad.’ Do you think it’s corruption and does repaying the funds make a difference?” Brennan asked.

“Repaying the funds does make a difference,” Cassidy said before lighting into Trump Jr.:

Anytime someone gives a $250,000 gift and they have strong ties to the Kremlin, that’s wrong. You — with that proximity to power, being the president’s son, you’ve got to give faith to the American people that Washington is not a swamp. And even though in your mind it might be a gift, the appearance of it is really bad. And so I’m glad it’s been repaid. It would be nice to have that kind of verified and, no, it shouldn’t have been done in the first place.

Brennan credited ProPublica for their “important reporting” on the gift.

After the report came out, Bettina Trump posted a response on her Instagram on behalf of both her and her husband:

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.

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. 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.

During an Oval Office presser last week, President Trump claimed that Don Jr. paid Kremlev back.

“It’s totally allowed, and a lot of people have parties, but it’s totally allowed,” Trump said. “But as I understand it, he paid him back. He didn’t want to have that, so I hear he paid him back.”

Watch the clip above via CBS News’s Face The Nation.

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