Republican senator calls for probe into Trump family’s financial dealings

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A Republican senator is calling for an investigation into the Trump family’s financial dealings — including demanding testimony from Donald Trump Jr. — in a sharp break with the president weeks before the midterm elections.

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Senator John Curtis of Utah attacked the younger Trump for allowing a Russian oligarch closely associated with Russian leader Vladimir Putin to fund a wedding celebration. According to ProPublica, which first reported the arrangement, the oligarch, Umar Kremlev, covered hundreds of thousands of dollars in expenses, including renting a private Caribbean island.

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“A toaster is a wedding gift. A private-island party paid for by a Putin-connected oligarch is something else,” the Republican senator said in a social media post Tuesday morning. “Republicans nearly wore out the subpoena machine investigating Hunter Biden’s foreign relationships. We should not unplug it now.”

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Curtis’s request for a congressional investigation, in a separate letter to leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee, marks the biggest personal rebuke yet to President Donald Trump in his second term by a Republican senator. While others have criticized Trump’s war with Iran or other policies, no sitting GOP senator has sought an official investigation into whether the president or his family has used his public office for personal gain.

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The Judiciary panel’s chairman, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, told reporters on Tuesday evening that “I’m going to take his request seriously.” Another Republican, John Cornyn of Texas, said “I think the chairman got a letter on Friday, so I think he wants to do his due diligence, but I would support Senator Curtis’s request.”

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Grassley added that hearings require considerable preparation and an inquiry regarding the Curtis letter would not begin soon.

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The move comes as congressional Republicans head into the Nov. 3 midterms with voters irate over the cost of living, the country mired in a war and Trump’s job approval polling at a low point. Some Democratic candidates are seeking to link allegations of presidential corruption to criticism that Republicans aren’t addressing Americans’ financial struggles.

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Representatives of the president, Donald Trump Jr. and Hunter Biden didn’t respond to requests for comment. The president said Friday that his son would repay the oligarch for the party. No details have been released on the reimbursement.

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In his letter, Curtis asked the Judiciary Committee leadership to examine how presidential relationships are used “for private financial benefit, preferential treatment, or access by domestic and foreign interests.” In addition to the wedding celebration, Curtis specifically cited the younger Trump’s crypto ventures, investment in defense contracting and “pursuit of international real estate deals involving direct meetings with foreign heads of state.”