Blanche dismisses concerns about Trump Jr’s wedding gift from Putin ally

Attorney General Todd Blanche dismissed concerns over a wedding gift to Donald Trump Jr. from an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this year.

“The president’s son has said that he’s a very close friend, and that he accepted a gift in the weekend of his wedding,” Blanche told reporters at the White House press briefing when asked if it was appropriate for Trump Jr. to accept the gift and if he would investigate if everything was appropriately reported as a gift.

“When you say ‘am I investigating?’ Am I investigating what? And when you say this person is a friend of Putin, I don’t even know if that’s true or not,” he continued. “I like that it’s fun to talk about this issue and the rhetoric around it, but I think all of the relevant people involved, the president and his kids have already addressed it.”

“I don’t have any information. I don’t know this person either,” he said.

ProPublica reported on Monday that Russian oligarch Umar Kremlev funded Trump Jr. and wife Bettina Anderson’s lavish wedding festivities in the Bahamas, which included a private island and a fireworks show.

Democrats and critics were quick to lash out at the Trump administration over potential ethics violations and national security concerns.

Anderson, who is now Bettina Trump, responded to the fallout over the report in an Instagram post defending the wedding.

“Our friend Umar very generously hosted two incredible nights of celebrations for us AFTER our wedding,” the post read. “It was an extraordinarily generous wedding gift from a friend, and something for which we were and remain incredibly grateful.”

The president did not attend the wedding, but said in a statement to the New York Times that he had “no idea” who Kremlev was and said that the Russian oligarch “didn’t pay for Don and Bettina’s wedding, which took place at a totally different location, and on a different day.”