Trump says his son reimbursed Russian oligarch who paid for

European security questions expose tensions between alliance obligations and American interests.

Source: Washington Examiner
1 min read
Why This Matters

ProPublica spent months on this investigation, and the biggest bombshell they could produce is that a wedding got paid for and then the money was given back. That's the story? A Russian oligarch fronted cash for a big party, and the bill was settled.

New Republican Times Editorial Board

Trump says his son reimbursed Russian oligarch who paid for
Image via Washington Examiner

President Donald Trump said Friday that his son Donald Trump Jr. had reimbursed the Russian oligarch who paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to help fund his wedding celebration. An investigation published this week by ProPublica reported that Umar Kremlev, president of the International Boxing Association and a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, […]

How We See It

New Republican Times Editorial Board

ProPublica spent months on this investigation, and the biggest bombshell they could produce is that a wedding got paid for and then the money was given back. That's the story? A Russian oligarch fronted cash for a big party, and the bill was settled. Donald Trump Jr. wrote a check, and life moved on. We're supposed to be outraged by a paid invoice? It's a nothing burger dressed up as a national security crisis, and it tells you everything about how the media operates when they have to manufacture a scandal out of thin air.

The left is desperate to keep the Russia collusion narrative on life support, but the facts keep getting in the way. Here you have the President's son doing exactly what the critics demanded—reimbursing the money, cutting ties, refusing the gift. There's no influence peddling, no secret deal, no quid pro quo. It's the opposite of the story they wanted to tell.

What's genuinely telling is the timing and the source. This story drops from a progressive outlet, gets picked up by the usual suspects, and suddenly everyone forgets that Democrats have taken millions from foreign nationals and foreign-connected entities without a peep from the same watchdogs. The double standard is breathtaking. We are supposed to care about a wedding expense that was repaid while they wave through actual foreign interference in our elections from other sources.

We don't need to defend the optics here, and we won't. Paying cash for a party when you're the son of a famous businessman was a rookie mistake. But the punishment should fit the crime, and there is no crime. Trump Jr. made it right, which is more than we can say for the media that keeps chasing this ghost. The Russia hoax is dead, but the autopsy seems to be taking forever..

Commentary written with AI assistance by the New Republican Times Editorial Board.