Don Jr.’s Russian Wedding Scandal Just Got Bigger…

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0:08Michael Popok:In the wake of the growing scandal about Don Jr. accepting a$250 ,000 gift through a series of offshore companies all related to Vladimir Putin and the call by GOP senators, Republican senators for an immediate investigation because they're trying to search for the quid pro quo. What was the payoff? Here's the question in the wake of all of that. Was one of the things that Putin was trying to accomplish by having approved a payment by Umar Kremlev from Umar Kremlev through the International Boxing Council, through Gazprom, an energy company in Russia controlled by Putin, to an offshore account in Dubai, to Don Jr.'s wedding purse?

0:52Michael Popok:Was all of that also to soften up Donald Trump before his meeting on behalf of America, apparently, with the Chinese delegation? Because Umar Kremlev and Vladimir Putin went together to go visit with the Chinese president recently. Was the attempt to pay off Don Jr., was that the soft underbelly in order to soften up almost like body blows, if we're going to use boxing metaphors, body blows to Donald Trump to make him more pliant and compliant when he meets with the president, with the Chinese delegation. Is that what we just watched? Well, the Senate Judiciary Committee is close to once, certainly, I think, before the midterms with now the GOP senators joining together to call for the head of Don Jr.

1:43Michael Popok:I think those are some questions that need to be answered. Here's another question that needs to be answered. Why didn't Donald Trump go to that wedding? We know now that that wedding was paid in part for by Umar Kremlev, who controls the International Boxing Council, which is funded by Gazprom, owned by and controlled by Vladimir Putin through that offshore account, all laid bare in ProPublica. We know all of that and that he attended the wedding. So it wasn't as Bettina Trump, the new socialite that married Don Jr. said in her social media posting, he's just a friend. He gave us a gift, like a toaster, right?

2:25Michael Popok:Like a toaster, like somebody's Amazon registry, bridal registry. on it was a money laundered through multiple offshore accounts so it wouldn't be connected back to Putin gifts. That wasn't on my registry when I got married. So we know that. We know Donald Trump didn't go. He claimed at the time in the fog of war it had to do with Iran, right? They were making decisions about Iran. Did he not go? And these are the hard questions that media have not asked Donald Trump. Did he not go? Because he knew of that payment. and didn't want to be publicly connected to it? That's a question. I see the media asking questions.

3:05Michael Popok:Do you think it was appropriate? You shouldn't have paid it back and all of this other stuff. Why aren't they asking the harder question? What did you know and when did you know it? Is that the reason you didn't go to your eldest son's wedding on the island in the Bahamas? Why wasn't it done at the White House? They could have done the after party paid for by Umar Kremlev at the White House, but they didn't do that either. Why not? Why wasn't that offered to him? These are the hard questions that need to be asked. And I think it's going to be them by the Senate Judiciary Committee. You're on Midas Touch and Legal AF.

3:36Michael Popok:I am Michael Popok. Let's get back to this fast-developing story. So fast, you're going to want to stay glued to Legal AF YouTube channel for my reports on this. This is how quickly, at high velocity, this story is moving. Okay, we know what ProPublica put out there. $250 ,000 present. Bettina Trump said, what's the big deal? It was for our after party. You know, the old after party defense. It's not corruption if you take it for the after party. I'm sorry. I fell asleep during my practice, my law practice and my law studies on that particular defense. And the other defense they love to use is after ProPublica blew the top off and blew the lid off this story, they posted all in caps, no conspiracy.

4:16Michael Popok:You know, if a person who's accused of a crime puts no conspiracy all in caps in a big font in their social media posting, they're not guilty. They can't be indicted, right? Or investigated. Wrong. And Donald Trump has a knack, and I've talked about this before, in creating his own destroyer. You know, you literally, it's like one of those Marvel movies where you create your own source and path of destruction. What am I talking about? Well, the GOP Republican senators that are now lining up with their knives out against Don Jr., just biding their time. Let's just go through the list. Senator Tillis of North Carolina, Senator Corden of Texas, and Senator Cassidy of Louisiana.

5:00Michael Popok:What do they have in common, those three out of the four? They were all opposed by Donald Trump and had their careers dashed and their Senate careers ended because Donald Trump opposed them in the primary. Tillis let it be He didn't want to come back to the Senate because of Trump. Cassidy had a primary opponent because of Donald Trump and lost. And so did Cornyn. That's the Ken Paxton versus James Tallarico fight that's going on right now in Texas. Should have been Cornyn against Tallarico. But they've got a lot of time on their hands and they're looking at their watch and they're like, we're here until the end of December, till the new Congress, 120th Congress gets sworn in in January.

5:41Michael Popok:And what could we look at? Oh, corruption related to the Trump family. And they were joined by Senator Curtis of Utah, who's made it a cottage industry of issuing letters and trying to open investigations into the business dealings of the Trump family. See, this is just one tip of the iceberg. But the fact that from a lack of judgment and a corruption standpoint, that Don Jr. thought it was OK to take a$250 ,000 payment through the International Boxing Commission or Council, through a Dubai offshore bank account, to a guy who's a known collaborator with Putin. I mean, let's be frank. Umlev doesn't have any money that wasn't given to him or provided to him by Putin.

6:25Michael Popok:He can't spend money for the International Boxing Council or through Gazprom without Putin's approval. We know that. What was the quid pro quo? That's what the four senators are now demanding that the Senate Judiciary Committee open up a hearing to determine what was the soft underbelly that they were trying to target. Was it to soften up Donald Trump before the Chinese delegation was met. Was it that? Was it to get Don Jr. to say, hey, dad, take it easy on the Chinese, will you? Our friend Umar Kremlev said, you know, they're good guys. You know, we should make a deal with them. Whatever happened to the old days in the last 20 years when the GOP and the Republicans were against communism, were against the Soviet menace, were against the red menace?

7:15Michael Popok:Where is that? They're against the red menace unless they pay for your wedding? That's the new doctrine? Any wonder why MAGA is circling the drain of history and they're going to do so poorly at the midterms at this rate? And this rate's not going to change. So that's the corruption they're looking at. As Senator Curtis said, you know what's a wedding present? A toaster. You know what's not a wedding present? A gift that's connected by an oligarch back to Vladimir Putin. With all of the irons and the fire we have around the world and all of the connectivity back to Russia and Russia at war with one of our allies in Ukraine.

7:53Michael Popok:That's the time you take a payment? The blood money? The blood money? How many Ukrainians died? How many Ukrainians have to die to pay for Don Jr.'s wedding? So we reported on a couple of days ago, there is the letter that was sent by John Curtis to Chuck Grassley, the 90-year-old, whatever he is, head of the Judiciary Committee, and Dick Durbin, who's the Democratic ranking member. And this is what he said. Trust in our government institution continues to fall to near historic lows. That concern should not depend on which party controls the White House. For years, serious questions have been raised about members of the presidential families using their names in proximity to the president to advance private business interests.

8:41Michael Popok:The son of former President Joe Biden, Hunter Biden, conducted substantial business with foreign entities, including in China and Ukraine. Hunter Biden has denied involving his father in his business dealings. But there's little question that President Biden, decade in public office, gave his son a degree of access, name recognition and influence. Right. That wasn't there before. Now let's turn to Trump. More recently, questions have arisen about the relationship of President Trump's eldest son, Don Jr., with foreign business figures and the acceptance of significant gifts. These include a lavish wedding after party on a private island provided by Russian oligarch Umar Kreblev, who reportedly traveled to China as part of a delegation accompanying Vladimir Putin shortly before giving the gift.

9:29Michael Popok:See the connectivity there and the vulnerabilities to our national security? Senate Judiciary Committee needs to open up that hearing immediately.

10:03Michael Popok:your medication is delivered right to your door. Ready to reach your goals? Visit HIMSS.com slash Legal AF to get a personalized, affordable plan that gets you. That's HIMSS.com slash Legal AF. HIMSS.com slash Legal AF. Weight loss by HIMSS is not available in all 50 states. Wagovi is the registered trademark of Novo Nordisk AS. To get started and learn more, including important safety information, Wagovi clinical study information and restrictions, visit HIMSS.com. Here's a clip of week number one last week, where the Trump administration hoped this story would go away and didn't have legs. Here's Todd Blanche, the attorney general, saying, who, what, where?

10:52Michael Popok:Never heard of him. What, what, open up what investigation? Play that clip. Was it appropriate for the son of the president of the United States to accept such a gift from a foreign businessman, from a friend of Putin? And are you going to investigate if everything was appropriately reported as a gift? So the president's already talked about it. So I wasn't with the president when he learned, so I can't give you a firsthand account. But the president has talked about it. Other people have talked about it. The president doesn't know who this person is. I think other members of the family don't know who this person is.

11:27the president's son has said that he's a very close friend and that he accepted a gift in the weekend of his wedding. I'm not, so I don't, I'm not sure what, 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. So I like that it's fun to talk about this issue and the rhetoric around it, but I think all 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. So I don't have any information about it beyond that.

12:02Michael Popok:Well, that was last week. Now we've got the destroyer that Donald Trump created, Senator Tillis, North Carolina, Senator Cassidy, Louisiana, Senator Cornyn of Texas, all joining together with Senator Curtis of Utah to demand this hearing be opened. Let me show you a clip of Senator Cassidy with Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation. Here he is facing the nation on this issue. Play the clip. Start first on something that grabbed our attention. President Trump claimed Friday that his son has now repaid a Russian billionaire named Umar Kremlev after it was reported that the Kremlin-linked billionaire paid for parts of his son's wedding celebrations in the Bahamas.

12:49Don Jr. originally called it a gift, but your Republican colleague from Utah, Senator Curtis, called it corruption. Your colleague from North Carolina, Tom Tillis, said it was beyond bad. Do you think it's corruption and does repaying the funds make a difference? Repaying the funds does make a difference. Anytime someone gives a$250 ,000 gift and they have strong ties to the Kremlin, that's wrong. You, with that proximity to power, being the president's son, you've got to give faith to the American people that Washington is not a swamp. And even though in your mind it might be a gift, the appearance of it is really bad.

13:32And so I'm glad it's been repaid. Would be nice to have that kind of verified and know it shouldn't have been done in the first place. Well, it was the free press that brought it forward in the first place. It was a publication called ProPublica. Important reporting there.

13:46Michael Popok:And similarly, Senator Curtis is calling for the head of Don Jr. and makes that direct link between the payment and potential foreign interference influence by Russia and by China by making that payment. In other words, we're back to another Russia influence investigation involving Donald Trump and his family. Play the clip. Another law. Believe this. a Russian old guard paid for a lavish wedding after party for Donald Trump Jr., which to me, it just stinks. It's corruption. I don't like it. I want to be careful because I don't want to just talk about this passively. You'll hear more from me later on.

14:24This is a big deal.

14:26Michael Popok:So bad that even Donald Trump is trying to head for the exit and throw his son under the bus when he was pressed at a press conference by somebody that sounds like he's from Russia TV, asking the question about the propriety of accepting that gift. Donald Trump said, I think he paid it back. Is that OK? Yeah, when you rob the bank and you just put the money back, no crimes committed, right? Play the clip. It's appropriate for your son to accept the gift, the payment of some of his wedding festivities. Well, it's totally allowed, and a lot of people have parties and all, but it's totally allowed.

14:58But as I understand it, he paid them back. He didn't want to have that, so I hear he paid them back. a person that he knows pretty i guess a friend of his i gave him a wedding party that's very common i've heard of many people given wedding parties i've given wait a minute i've given well i don't know maybe you didn't do a background check but i've given i've given wedding parties to numerous people they get married i give them a party uh i give them parties at beautiful places like mar-a-lago and others but i've given many uh with all of that being said i understand that Don's paid him back. I heard I heard about that.

15:36I actually heard that when I heard the story, I asked about it. He said, I'm paying him back. So and that was a while ago. So I heard he's paying. I have to say, though, you know, giving a wedding party is pretty common.

15:51Michael Popok:So this scandal has legs because it is has the ring of truth to it. A president's son who was busy bashing Hunter Biden for years about his purported corruption has thinks nothing of taking$250 ,000 off of a Putin-tied connected oligarch who goes and travels with Putin just last week to the Chinese delegation before the Chinese delegation meets with Donald Trump Sr. And Don Jr. says, you just beat a nice guy, just a wedding present. $250 ,000 wedding present. Are you out of your mind? Plus, why did he take it? He's got$300 million or more, probably closer to a billion dollars of his own money.

16:33Michael Popok:His wife's a socialite, Bettina Trump. He's heir to the Trump fortune, which is growing exponentially every day. You gotta take that gift. And what did you think? This is where Don Jr. under oath is gonna be interesting. What did you think the quid pro quo was? What did you think you were gonna have to do in response to that? Open a couple of doors, make a couple of phone calls, have dad go easy on them what was it how are you going to avoid i'm going to use a godfather reference here how are you going to avoid the horse's head being placed in your bed what were you going to do he's such a nice guy he's just going to donate the money you're that close of a friend with him so we're going to continue to follow it on the might of touch networking on legal af take a moment come over to legal af youtube channel hit that free subscribe button until my next report.

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