This Is Trump’s Most Jaw-Dropping Putin Scandal

Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Getty/Reuters An unlikely throughline can explain the Trump family’s astonishing ties to the Kremlin, according to political analyst David Rothkopf.

Appearing on the latest episode of The Daily Beast Podcast , Rothkopf discussed Monday’s bombshell ProPublica report that Donald Trump Jr.’s wedding to Bettina Anderson in May was financed by a prominent Russian oligarch close to Vladimir Putin.

The report revealed that Umar Kremlev, the head of the International Boxing Association, bankrolled the president’s son’s three-day private island extravaganza to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The revelation that a close Putin ally was involved in a wedding associated with the first family could explain why President Donald Trump declined to attend earlier this year, Rothkopf said.

“Trump didn’t go to this wedding,” he said.

“I now believe, having read this story, that somebody said, ‘You can’t go to this wedding.

You can’t go to a wedding that’s paid for by the Kremlin.

This will cause you more problems than you need to have.’” Rothkopf argued that Kremlev’s involvement pointed toward the “deeper, corrupt inner core of Trump and Trumpism” that has been around for quite some time.

“It’s always been Russia.

And when did it start being Russia?” he said.

“Forty years ago, when Trump started to realize that he could build big buildings in New York City and fill them with people who would never take the apartments, but who were buying the apartments in order to launder their money.” The political guru explained that there were “many instances” of Trump welcoming Russian investments or financing in his buildings, including how Russian mobsters used Trump properties to launder money, as detailed in a 2017 report in The New Republic .

“He’s the head of the International Boxing [Association], and he’s really into boxing and some of the other things associated with it, like gambling.

Well, who else is into that?” he asked.

Rothkopf emphasized that Trump and his son both share an interest in the “whole MMA thing,” and that boxing has been integral to the president’s past.