Tillis calls Trump Jr. wedding gift from Russian oligarch ‘stupid on stilts’

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) chastised Donald Trump Jr. on Sunday for accepting a wedding gift from a Russian oligarch.

“This was stupid on stilts … This is a man who’s worth somewhere between $300 million and $400 million,” Tillis said on CNN’s “State of the Union,” referring to Umar Kremlev.

ProPublica reported earlier this month that Kremlev, who has ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, heavily funded and attended the Caribbean wedding of President Trump’s eldest son and Bettina Trump.

GOP Sen. John Curtis (Utah) asked the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday to subpoena Trump Jr. regarding the matter .

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) backed up Curtis later in the day, with Tillis also saying the panel should launch a probe after the midterms.

While the North Carolina Republican said Sunday he “would leave it to” Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) regarding the “mechanics” of getting the president’s son to testify, he deemed Kremlev’s wedding gift a “bad look.”

“This is amateur hour, at a time when we need our pros on the field. We have got an election we need to win in 37 days. How this helped, I can’t imagine,” he told host Jake Tapper.

“Maybe Don Jr. can give us a reasonable example for why tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars from an oligarch went into a wedding in some beach location,” Tillis later remarked. “But, boy, I’d sure like to see the rationale behind it.

“On its face, it doesn’t look very smart.”

The president said earlier this month that his son repaid Kremlev for the gift. Bettina Trump also defended the gift , writing on Instagram that Kremlev “very generously hosted two incredible nights of celebrations for us AFTER” their wedding.

“Friendship doesn’t require a political motive,” she wrote on Sept. 14 . “Generosity doesn’t automatically come with an agenda. And sometimes a wedding gift is simply a wedding gift.”