Republican Sen. John Curtis of Utah is calling for a sweeping congressional investigation into the business dealings of Donald Trump Jr. and Hunter Biden, urging Senate leaders to subpoena both presidential sons for testimony.
In a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and ranking member Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) Curtis asked the panel to examine whether relatives of presidents have used their family connections for private financial gain, favorable treatment or access.
The request puts a Republican senator at the center of a politically explosive dispute just weeks before the midterm elections. While GOP lawmakers have spent years scrutinizing Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings, Curtis is arguing that the same standard must apply to the family of a Republican president.
Curtis wrote that the concern should transcend whichever party controls the White House.
Curtis said the proposed inquiry should cover both men’s dealings with foreign individuals and entities, gifts and other benefits they received, and any occasions when their relationship to a president was used—or understood—to carry value.
Curtis Flags Foreign Deals And Lavish Gift
The Utah senator cited Hunter Biden’s business relationships in China and Ukraine while Joe Biden was in or seeking public office. Hunter Biden has repeatedly denied involving his father in his business dealings.
House Republicans previously conducted a multiyear investigation into the Biden family’s foreign financial relationships. Their 2024 impeachment inquiry report accused Joe Biden of benefiting from an influence-peddling operation. Biden and congressional Democrats rejected those conclusions, and the House did not vote to impeach him.
Curtis also pointed to recent questions surrounding Trump Jr.’s financial interests, including cryptocurrency ventures, international real estate activity, defense-related investments and ties to prediction-market companies affected by federal regulation.
His letter followed a ProPublica report that Russian businessman Umar Kremlev helped pay for two nights of festivities connected to Trump Jr.’s May wedding in the Bahamas. The outlet reported that Kremlev covered hundreds of thousands of dollars in expenses, including the rental of a private island and a fireworks display.
Kremlev leads the International Boxing Association and has ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. ProPublica reported that he had accompanied a group traveling with Putin in China shortly before the wedding celebrations.
Trump Jr. and his wife, Bettina, confirmed Kremlev hosted two nights of celebrations but described the arrangement as a generous gift from a friend. They said efforts to portray the gift as politically motivated were unfair.
President Trump later said his son would repay Kremlev and defended the arrangement as permissible, according to The New York Post.
Curtis nevertheless warned that relationships between presidential relatives and foreign business figures can create the appearance—or expectation—of favorable treatment and potentially expose national security vulnerabilities.
One Standard For Both Parties
Curtis framed his request as a test of whether Congress is willing to apply its oversight authority consistently.
He argued that the country should not accept different standards for Republican and Democratic presidential families.
The senator said an investigation should establish the facts, determine whether ethics, disclosure or anti-corruption laws apply, and consider reforms aimed at preventing presidential connections from becoming tools for private enrichment.
Curtis did not accuse either Trump Jr. or Hunter Biden of a specific crime in the letter. His request now leaves Grassley and Durbin to decide whether the Judiciary Committee will pursue an investigation or issue subpoenas.
“Congress has an obligation to pursue credible concerns wherever they lead and without regard to party,” Curtis wrote.
