From @ChuckGrassley Dear Axel: Thank you for taking the time to contact me. As your senator, it is important that I hear from you. I appreciate hearing about your concerns regarding recent reports that a Russian oligarch paid for Donald Trump Jr.’s wedding party as a personal gift. It is my understanding that on September 18, 2026, when asked about the gift during an event in the Oval Office, President Trump stated that Donald Trump Jr. has or will repay the gift. Further, according to public reporting, Donald Trump Jr. repaid the wedding party gift. While members of the President's family are private citizens and are not subject to the same gift rules as the President or their administration, it is important to hold elected officials and their families to a high standard of transparency and ethics. That’s why I’ve conducted oversight over the executive branch during every presidency during my time serving in Congress, including during the past Biden and Trump administrations. In fact, you may or may not know that during my bipartisan investigation into the Russia hoax, it was widely reported that Mr. Trump Jr. gave hours of congressional testimony in response to my oversight. I never hesitate to express my disagreements with the president when I believe there is something I could add to the discussion. In fact, I have publicly spoken of my disagreements with every president I have served with and I have also been able to find common ground with each of these presidents. During this 119th Congress, my focus remains on passing meaningful legislation that benefits Iowa and the nation as a whole. I will be sure to monitor this issue, and appreciate having the benefit of your thoughts in mind. Thank you again for taking the time to contact me. Sincerely, Chuck Grassley United States Senator My reply Subject: Follow-up: one standard for the Bidens, another for the Trumps? Dear Senator Grassley, Thank you for your response to my earlier message about the Russian oligarch who funded Donald Trump Jr.'s wedding celebrations. I appreciate the reply, but it stated as settled fact something that isn't, it sidestepped what I actually asked, and it's hard to square with your own record. First, the facts of your letter. You wrote that Donald Trump Jr. repaid the gift. That claim surfaced only AFTER ProPublica exposed the payments — the president mentioned it in the Oval Office on September 18, and Kremlev himself claimed it in October. No one has produced any proof, and the only people vouching for it have an obvious reason to. A repayment no one mentioned until the story broke, and that still hasn't been documented, shouldn't be repeated by my senator as fact. And even if the money was returned, it doesn't answer my concern. The access a member of Putin's inner circle bought — days of intimate contact with the family of a sitting president — already happened. A check written after you're caught doesn't undo it. You answered none of my actual questions: Will you support a counterintelligence review? Will you press the Justice Department to explain why it won't investigate? "He's a private citizen" dodges the national-security issue entirely. What I can't reconcile is your reply against your own record. In July 2023, you personally released an FBI FD-1023 form alleging that Joe and Hunter Biden took millions in bribes — a document the FBI itself called raw, unverified informant reporting. You released it over the Justice Department's objections, gave floor speeches, and accused the FBI of hiding it from the American people. The conduct it described allegedly occurred while Biden was vice president or out of office — never while he was president. And the informant behind it, Alexander Smirnov, was later charged with fabricating the entire story, with prosecutors stating he had contacts with Russian intelligence officials who helped pass it.