Republican Senator John Curtis of Utah is asking the Senate Judiciary Committee to investigate whether members of presidential families have used their proximity to power for private financial gain, preferential treatment, or access. His request reaches across party lines. He wants the committee to subpoena both Donald Trump, Jr. and Hunter Biden.
The former recently accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in wedding festivities from Russian oligarch Umar Kremlev, a figure with ties to President Vladimir Putin. He has also faced scrutiny over politically connected investments, lucrative crypto ventures, and advisory roles with federally regulated prediction markets. The latter has faced years of scrutiny over shady business dealings in China, Ukraine, and elsewhere while his father held or sought public office.
“The country should not have to accept one standard for the family of a Republican president and another for the family of a Democratic president,” Curtis wrote in a Monday letter to Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), and ranking Democrat Dick Durbin of Illinois.
A Wedding Gift
The immediate trigger was Donald Trump, Jr.’s May wedding celebration in the Bahamas.
ProPublica reported last week that Russian businessman Umar Kremlev covered some of the festivities:
[The newlyweds] had their first dance on a second private island nearby that can rent for around $100,000 a night, paid for by Kremlev. The company that put on the fireworks display charges around $70,000 for such shows.
The outlet described Kremlev, who heads the International Boxing Association, as close to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Trump, Jr.’s wife, Bettina Trump, portrayed Kremlev as a “dear friend” and confirmed that he had hosted two nights of celebrations after the couple’s private wedding ceremony. She rejected suggestions of an ulterior motive. She wrote on Instagram last Monday,
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.
President Donald Trump said his son planned to reimburse Kremlev. A person familiar with the matter also told Reuters that Trump, Jr. intended to repay him.
Curtis argues that repayment does not erase the broader question. His letter asks why a foreign billionaire with political connections would provide such an expensive benefit to the sitting president’s son. He wrote,
These 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.
The senator also warned that such engagements “could even create national security vulnerabilities.”
Investments and Prediction Markets
The senator also pointed beyond the wedding. Donald Trump, Jr. has taken an increasingly active role in businesses whose fortunes can be directly affected by federal policy.
He is a partner at 1789 Capital, which has grown rapidly since his father returned to the White House. The fund surpassed $1 billion in assets in 2025 and built stakes in defense contractors, artificial intelligence companies, SpaceX, and other businesses exposed to federal regulation and government spending. There is no evidence that the fund received preferential treatment or violated any law. Ethics experts, however, pointed to the potential conflict created when the president’s son profits from companies affected by his father’s policies.
The overlap is especially visible in prediction markets.
In 2025, 1789 Capital invested tens of millions of dollars in Polymarket, and Trump, Jr. joined the platform’s advisory board. In 2026, it led a new $1 billion Polymarket financing round and committed about $300 million. Trump, Jr. was already serving as an advisor to rival Kalshi. Both operate in an industry whose legal future depends heavily on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and federal courts. Polymarket had previously faced federal investigations, which the Justice Department and CFTC closed without charges in July 2025. Kalshi continues to fight states and tribal governments over whether its sports contracts constitute federally regulated derivatives or gambling.
Crypto
Trump, Jr. and Eric Trump are also co-founders of World Liberty Financial, part of the Trump family’s highly lucrative and rapidly expanding cryptocurrency empire.
Days before Trump returned to office in January 2025, an investment vehicle backed by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the UAE’s national security advisor and brother of the country’s president, agreed to acquire 49 percent of World Liberty for $500 million. The arrangement reportedly directed $187 million of the initial payment to Trump family entities.
Other foreign investors followed. Chinese-born crypto billionaire Justin Sun invested $75 million in World Liberty. At the time, the Securities and Exchange Commission was pursuing a civil fraud case against him. The SEC and Sun asked a court to pause that case in February 2025 while discussing a resolution. The agency ultimately resolved the litigation in March 2026, dismissing its claims against Sun and most other claims. There is no evidence that Sun’s investment caused the regulatory decisions. The sequence nevertheless became part of the broader conflict-of-interest debate surrounding the family’s crypto business.
One of the other large suspicious investments came from Chinese-linked GD Culture Group.
The family’s foreign business interests extend beyond digital assets. The Trump Organization has pursued new projects in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates while President Trump conducts U.S. policy toward those governments. The White House and Trump Organization have maintained that the president is separated from management of the businesses and that the arrangements create no improper conflicts.
Hunter Biden Back in the Frame
Curtis paired those concerns the with long-familiar name.
Hunter Biden conducted business with foreign interests while his father, Joe Biden, served as vice president and later sought the presidency. His “work” included a board position with Ukrainian energy company Burisma and business involving the Chinese firm CEFC.
House Republicans spent years investigating whether those relationships converted Joe Biden’s public position into private value for his family. Their 2024 impeachment inquiry report alleged that Biden family members and associates received more than $27 million from foreign individuals or entities and argued that Joe Biden participated in influence peddling.
Joe Biden denied wrongdoing. Hunter Biden denied involving his father in his business. Reuters reported during the inquiry that most witnesses had not established that Joe Biden held a direct or indirect financial interest in his relatives’ ventures, despite the evidence to the contrary.
Hunter Biden appeared for a nearly seven-hour congressional deposition in February 2024. Durbin noted that distinction when he endorsed Curtis’s request Tuesday.
“In fairness, Hunter Biden has already given a sworn deposition to Congress on this issue of corrupt activity. Donald Trump Jr. has not,” Durbin said.
Corruption of Trust
Curtis is framing the proposed investigation as a test of congressional consistency:
For years, serious questions have been raised about members of presidential families using their names and proximity to the President to advance private business interests.
The senator argued that such concerns cut directly into public trust. He cited “the perception that those with close proximity to political power are provided with opportunities, access, and treatment unavailable to ordinary Americans” as one reason 72 percent of Americans describe the federal government as corrupt.
