(Sept 22): A Republican senator is calling for an investigation into the Trump family’s financial dealings — including demanding testimony from Donald Trump Jr — in a sharp break with President Donald Trump.
Utah Senator John Curtis wrote to the leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee asking them to examine how presidential relationships are used “for private financial benefit, preferential treatment, or access by domestic and foreign interests” specifically noting the younger Trump’s lucrative crypto ventures and his lavish wedding celebration funded by a Russian oligarch.
Curtis also highlighted the longstanding controversy over how former president Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden had significant business ties to foreign interests while his father was serving or running for public office.
“I urge the Committee to subpoena Donald Trump Jr and Hunter Biden to testify regarding their past business dealings, relationships with foreign individuals and entities, gifts, or other benefits they have received, and any instances in which their relationship to the president was invoked or understood to provide value,” Curtis wrote.
Curtis also noted the younger Trump’s cryptocurrency ventures and ties to prediction markets that “depend on favourable federal regulatory decisions being considered by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.”
“Americans deserve confidence that public institutions serve them — not presidents, political parties, wealthy interests, or members of powerful families,” Curtis wrote. “Congress has an obligation to pursue credible concerns wherever they lead and without regard to party.”
Curtis, a freshman senator, is emerging as a key moderate voice among Senate Republicans. He holds the seat vacated by Republican Mitt Romney, another moderate who sparred with Trump.
In a video last week, Curtis called Trump Jr’s wedding afterparty having been paid for by a Russian oligarch tied to Russian President Vladimir Putin “corruption” and “a big deal”.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune declined to comment on the matter last week when asked by a reporter.
Curtis’s call marks the biggest break yet with the president by a Republican senator in Trump’s second term. Three Senate Republicans — Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and Bill Cassidy — voted to convict Trump of inciting insurrection in his second impeachment trial, and a number of others including then-GOP leader Mitch McConnell faulted him for his actions but said the trial was no longer constitutional because Trump had left office.
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