From a criminal record for extortion and battery to dark ties to sports betting and a national lottery in Russia, Umar Kremlev comes from a sketchy world -- one Donald Trump Jr. might someday wish he hadn't entered

Donald Trump Jr. and Bettina Anderson dance at their wedding (Laura Gordon/Hello!)

According to published reports, Donald Trump Jr. has a net worth of roughly $300 million. So why did he need a Russian oligarch, one with direct ties to Vladimir Putin, to help pay for his wedding in late May of this year? That is one of many questions raised by reporting from ProPublica under the headline "Donald Trump Jr.'s Bahamas wedding was secretly bankrolled by Russian oligarch close to Putin. 

A subhead adds important details: "The oligarch, Umar Kremlev, spent hundreds of thousands on expenses like renting out a private island. He appears to have met Trump Jr. only recently, but he attended the intimate wedding with a large group of other Russian guests. A reporting team of Justin Elliott, Brett Murphy, Joshua Kaplan, and Alex Mierjeski writes:

On May 24, Donald Trump Jr. was celebrating in the Bahamas, as scantily clad dancers in stilettos and sailor caps performed for him and his guests. It was the last night of his wedding, a lavish, three-day party held across a pair of ultra-exclusive private islands. A five-tier funfetti cake had been airlifted in from Florida, and helicopters and seaplanes descended on the islands before guests settled into their oceanfront villas. That night on the beach, Trump Jr. lifted his bride into the air while fireworks launched from a barge over the sea.

“It was everything we dreamed of and more,” his wife later wrote on Instagram.

Kremlev footed the bill for hundreds of thousands of dollars of wedding expenses, according to records reviewed by ProPublica and interviews with three people familiar with the event. The oligarch paid to rent out one of the private islands, where a reception was held and where guests slept. He also covered other big-ticket items, like the fireworks show, and his team helped plan the event. Kremlev is the head of the International Boxing Association (IBA), a scandal-plagued sports group that has been financed by the Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom. The wedding payments came from an IBA-affiliated entity in Dubai that the boxing association uses for financial transactions. 

Trump Jr. has a fair amount of experience with weddings and the like. He and his first wife, Vanessa Trump, were married from 2005 to 2018 and share five children together. His second wife now is Bettina Anderson, a Palm Beach socialite and model. In between the two marriages, Trump Jr. was engaged to former Fox News host Kimberly Guilfoyle between 2020 and 2024, but they never married. One might think that Trump Jr. would prefer to make this wedding a low-key affair. But we are talking about the Trump family here, so bigger likely will always be seen as better -- especially when someone else is paying for it. Actually, in terms of attendees, it was low key, as the ProPublica team writes:

The guest list numbered around 50. It included Trump Jr.’s brother-in-law Jared Kushner, Eric Trump — and Kremlev, an imposing man with a shaved head who speaks limited English. The oligarch was part of a large group whose presence puzzled other attendees. They sometimes stood off by themselves, speaking Russian.

“It was really small, like, just really close friends,” Trump Jr. later said on his podcast. “Tried to keep it really tight. And it was just awesome.” 

As to our question at the top of this post. Trump Jr. obviously did not need Umar Kremlev, or anyone else, to help pay for his wedding. So, why did it happen?  

The relationship between giver and receiver seems tenuous, and perhaps that is why some national-security experts have expressed reservations about the arrangement, according to the ProPublica team:

Kremlev’s previously unreported relationship with Trump Jr. represents an extraordinary development: a member of Putin’s circle financially supporting the president’s son and gaining intimate access to the Trump family. For a decade, Putin’s government, regarded as a chief adversary of the U.S., has been accused of efforts to influence American elections. Attempts by Russia to make inroads with the Trumps before the 2016 election exploded into controversy that dogged much of the president’s first term.

National security experts expressed alarm at Trump Jr. accepting the oligarch’s largesse, saying it raised an urgent question: What motivated Kremlev to spend a fortune cultivating the connection? 

“If I’m paying for your wedding, at some point, you’re going to owe me something,” said Frank Montoya Jr., a retired career FBI official who held senior counterintelligence roles. Oligarchs like Kremlev often act in coordination with the Russian government. While it’s unclear if that happened here, Trump Jr. put himself in a precarious position, Montoya said. “This should be unthinkable for the son of the president. End of story.”

Montoya's comment strikes at the heart of the matter because it raises the issue of a possible quid pro quo (a "something for something" deal). Ironically, that was a major issue in the prosecution of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman, which we covered extensively from roughly 2004 to 2012. That's because my wife Carol and I lived in Alabama at the time, and that is where the Legal Schnauzer blog was born in June 2007.

To be sure, there are differences between the Siegelman case and the Kremlev-Trump Jr. gift. The Siegelman matter was governed largely by a landmark case styled McCormick vs. United States 500 U.S. 257 (1991), which held that a conviction of an elected official under the Hobbs Act requires proof of an explicit quid pro quo. In short, McCormick defines the difference between a bribe and a lawful contribution in the context of a political campaign.

Trump Jr. never has held public office or been a candidate in a political campaign? He has served on his father's presidential transition team and as a fundraiser for conservative candidates. But that likely would not bring him  under the campaign-contribution guidelines of McCormick.

Still, should Trump Jr. have declined the gift from Kremlev? Like Montoya, my answer is yes, simply because it looks bad to have a benefactor who is tied to Putin, one of the most notorious and murderous fascists in history. And someone in authority -- such as the president of the United States -- should have been smart enough to make sure his son steered clear of Putin's pal.

For one thing, the gift likely gives Democrats a potent political weapon they will be happy to use in future elections. Plus, it's not hard to imagine a scenario where the gift comes back to bite the Trump family. Let's say Democrats take back the House and Senate in 2026, or the White House plus Congress and the judiciary in 2028. What if Dems conduct investigations that show Kremlev consulted Trump Sr. about the gift, and the president was all for it, even suggesting it be done in the form of a wedding gift. Imagine that evidence showed Trump Sr. used a portion of the Kremlev funds for a future campaign of his own or for those of other Republicans. Would that bring him under McCormick and cause massive headaches for the GOP, up and down the ballot? In my view, the answer is yes. Here is more from the ProPublica report:

Holden Triplett, who served as Trump’s counterintelligence director on the National Security Council during his first term, said Russian intelligence frequently seeks to build ties with U.S. government officials and their family members. “Money is a tried-and-true method to gain access,” said Triplett, who also worked for the FBI in Moscow.

In the days leading up to Trump Jr.’s wedding, Kremlev was in China as part of the delegation accompanying Putin, according to Chinese state media. The month before, Putin had bestowed him with a state honor, the Order of Friendship. The Ukrainian government has imposed sanctions on Kremlev personally, citing his closeness to Putin and Russian security services. 

It’s not clear why Kremlev helped pay for Trump Jr.’s wedding. The men appear to have met only recently. Public reporting suggests Trump Jr. could have afforded it himself, with Forbes recently estimating his net worth at roughly $300 million. 

In perhaps a first for the Trump family, a spokesperson for Trump Jr. seemed to be up front when hit with questions about the Kremlev gift. A spokesperson for Eric Trump, meanwhile, seemed desperate to get off the phone. Kremlev's press office gave a response, but seemed eager to distance him from political matters:

In response to detailed questions, a spokesperson for Trump Jr. did not dispute the wedding payments from Kremlev. “Umar is a personal friend of Don,” he said. The spokesman said that Kremlev is “not someone he has a business relationship with” and that the men met through a mutual friend in the hunting world and bonded over their love of boxing and the outdoors. 

A spokesperson for Trump Jr.’s brother, Eric, said of Kremlev: “Eric has absolutely no clue who this person is, nor has he ever heard his name.” 

In a statement, Kremlev’s press office said, “Mr. Kremlev and Mr. Trump Jr have a friendly relationship” and they first met “a couple of years ago.” The press office described Kremlev as a businessman and philanthropist, adding, “Mr. Kremlev has never discussed political matters with any of his American friends and acquaintances,” including Trump Jr. They said the boxing organization itself did not incur expenses for the wedding but did not comment on the payments from the Dubai entity. The press office also said that when Putin and Kremlev were in China recently, Kremlev was not part of Putin’s “official delegation.”

Kushner, who has been helping lead the U.S. government’s negotiations with Russia over Ukraine, did not respond to requests for comment. The White House and the Russian government did not respond either.

Trump Jr. has become a popular figure in conservative circles, and he seems likely to play a future role in politics. Could it be as a candidate, even for president? That does not seem to be out of the question. Early polling shows J.D. Vance at No. 1 and Marco Rubio No. 2 among GOP voters. Some conservative strategists see Trump Jr. as a candidate who might best represent the MAGA base. A recent Newsweek poll shows Trump Jr. capturing around 19 percent in a hypothetical Republican primary, placing him in the top tier of potential contenders. 

Movement since July shows Vance falling from 35 to 32 percent, and Rubio declining from 15 to 12 percent -- with Trump Jr. rising from 16 to 19 percent. That suggests Trump Jr. might be developing momentum. The ProPublica team reports:

The revelations come as Trump Jr. has emerged as a political power center in his own right. Beloved by the MAGA base, he reportedly played an active role in vetting White House cabinet picks for Trump’s second term and was dubbed his father’s “most essential political adviser” by The Wall Street Journal. “I certainly don’t think I’d be sitting here as the VP nominee without Don’s help,” Vice President JD Vance told the outlet in late 2024.

This account is based on records and interviews with dozens of current and former IBA officials and contractors, wedding attendees and other people in Trump Jr.’s and Kremlev’s circles.

As for the wedding itself, Kremlev apparently spared no expense:

Trump Jr. exchanged vows with socialite Bettina Anderson on a private island that was featured in Pirates of the Caribbean and the 2006 James Bond movie Casino Royale. They had their first dance on a second private island nearby that can rent for around $100,000 a night, paid for by Kremlev. The company that put on the fireworks display charges around $70,000 for such shows. (Kremlev did not attend the ceremony itself, which was held on the first day and had just 18 guests, Trump Jr.’s spokesperson said.)

The atmosphere was "Monte Carlo meets frat party" — helicopters in and out, a beachside DJ set, beer pong tournaments. One day, the men went spearfishing. Artisans at the London fashion house Safiyaa spent 150 hours embroidering Anderson’s bespoke silk reception outfit. The president’s son had undergone treatment to better define his jawline for the occasion.

Some longtime friends of Trump Jr. told associates they were disappointed not to be invited, though a few of his closest business partners — executives at the Trump family crypto company, World Liberty Financial, and the venture capital firm 1789 Capital — did make the cut. President Trump himself skipped it. (“He’d like me to go, but it’s going to be just a small, little private affair,” the president told reporters beforehand. “I said, you know, this is not good timing for me.”) But many of the guests were immediate family of the bride and groom.

That made the large contingent of Russians all the more conspicuous. “What are they doing here?” one person recalled thinking. At least one of the Russian guests had been with Kremlev on his China trip: Alexander Lagutin, a businessperson who has served in senior roles at a Russian defense contractor and a state-backed energy company. Kremlev’s right hand at the IBA, Elena Sobol, attended the wedding too. 

Since the wedding, the Trumps have released scores of photos and videos of the festivities. While they show many of the guests, the Russians have been absent from all of them. (The top of Kremlev’s head is visible in the back of one group photo posted on Instagram by a friend of the bride.) After the party was over, on his “Triggered” podcast, Trump Jr. emphasized the event’s privacy: “The people that were there — if you’re on that list, you weren’t talking.”

At this point, a prime question: Who is this guy from Russia, and why was he willing to pay such big dough for the wedding of a guy he had not known for long? We do know this much, thanks to ProPublica's reporting: Umar Kremlev's history is not pristine:

In 2009, Umar Kremlev did not yet exist.

He was in his late 20s, with a criminal record for extortion and battery, still going by his birth name, Umar Lutfulloyev, according to the Russian independent news outlet Proekt. But he was about to rapidly ascend in Russia to a position of wealth and influence, with the help of a powerful friend. (“Mr. Kremlev has a completely clean legal record,” his press office said, sounding a lot like Karoline Leavitt.)

In 2010, he changed his name to Kremlev. He soon joined a Russian government-backed biker gang called the Night Wolves, eventually taking a leadership role, according to news reports. That is what first brought him close to Alexei Rubezhnoi, who now leads Putin’s presidential security service, Proekt reported. In 2017, Kremlev took over the Russian Boxing Federation, after Rubezhnoi personally intervened to put him at the helm (Proekt). 

In 2020, Kremlev became president of the IBA. The association was something akin to FIFA but for boxing and had long overseen the sport in the Olympics. But it had been beset by corruption allegations and was on the brink of insolvency. Kremlev brought money to the table from Gazprom, the state-owned company that operates as an arm of Putin’s government. Gazprom publicly became the IBA’s financial backer, filling its coffers with tens of millions of dollars.

Kremlev is not just a guy with big bucks and an interest in boxing and biking. He also has a clear ideology. He has been tied to the alleged kidnapping of Ukrainian children and relocating them to Russia, the ProPublica team reports:

Former high-level IBA officials said Kremlev had a clear political agenda. “Umar is guided by Putin. It was using the sport for soft political power,” a former IBA board member told ProPublica. “It’s geopolitics. That it’s boxing is just happenstance.” Kremlev, 43, is also heavily involved in an organization called Healthy Fatherland, run by his 23-year-old wife’s twin sister. The group — which promotes healthy eating and youth sports — is under Ukrainian sanctions for its alleged role in a program of abducting Ukrainian children from occupied territories and relocating them under the guise of “rehabilitation.” (Healthy Fatherland did not respond to a request for comment.)

Kremlev’s cozy relationship with the government has made him rich. Putin used the levers of the state to make Kremlev a dominant player in the Russian sports betting industry, according to Proekt, and one of his companies was chosen to operate the national lottery. After Putin nationalized Russia’s largest car dealership company in 2023, Kremlev became the owner of that too.

He now flaunts that wealth through his boisterous public persona. In one video Kremlev posted on social media, he surprises a young mother by giving her a free car. In another, he criticizes his young female aide’s outfit as not feminine enough and makes her change. He shadowboxes with ostriches and brings in celebrities like Rick Ross and Naomi Campbell for IBA events; he praises Stalin and rides private jets.

The invasion of Ukraine ushered in a period of challenges for Kremkev, who was especially worried about possibly facing U.S. sanctions. He has made adjustments to a number of his operations, both on the business side and in the sporting arena. It's unclear, however, if he is out of the woods:

Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the U.S. began to indict Russian oligarchs and seize yachts and other assets. Kremlev repeatedly told associates he was worried about being targeted by a U.S. government probe, according to a person close to IBA leadership. “He was very afraid of American sanctions,” the person added. (Kremlev does not appear on public U.S. sanction lists.)

With the business environment in Europe growing more hostile to Russia, Kremlev moved much of the IBA’s operations from Switzerland to the United Arab Emirates. A new Dubai entity, IB Challenger, would later pay wedding expenses for Trump Jr. The current sources of the IBA’s funds are murky, and, in recent years, top executives have given conflicting accounts of the status of its relationship with Gazprom. (Kremlev’s press office told ProPublica the IBA’s sponsorship contract with Gazprom “expired long ago.”) People close to the organization said they understood that its money still comes from Russia. 

In 2023, the International Olympic Committee stripped Kremlev’s IBA of its role organizing Olympic boxing. It has cited a host of governance issues and the group’s refusal to “transparently explain the sources of its financing or to explain its full financial dependency, at the time, on a single state-owned company.” 

It was a major setback that deprived the IBA of a key source of its international influence. Kremlev has raged against the Olympic committee ever since and has said that his IBA predecessor, who he blames for the problems, “must be shot.” 

Where did Kremlev turn in his moment of peril? Take a guess:

Kremlev saw a potential ally in President Trump. After Trump’s second inauguration, in January 2025, Kremlev sent an open letter to the president asking him to look into the Olympic committee’s actions in advance of the 2028 Los Angeles Games. “We look forward with great optimism to the possibility of working together to make the Olympic movement great again,” he wrote. 

In September 2025, the IBA brought in Trump Jr. for a panel discussion in Istanbul about boxing. With his then-girlfriend, Anderson, sitting offstage, he criticized transgender women competing in women’s sports and reminisced about watching Saturday night fights as a child. Trump Jr. shared the stage with Kremlev, the boxer Manny Pacquiao and Muhammad Ali’s daughter Rasheda. (Trump Jr.’s spokesperson said he was not paid for the appearance and was already in Turkey for an unrelated event.) 

The more you learn about Kremlev, the sketchier he sounds. And it's hard not to think that Trump Jr. might someday regret getting involved with the Russian. If Trump Jr. does wind up running for office, opponents likely will claim the whole wedding episode raises questions about his judgment, turning a seemingly positive event into a negative. It might not help that Kremlev is trying to raise his profile in the United States: The ProPublica team writes:

The president’s son had reason to be attuned to the sensitivity of cozying up with a Putin associate, especially while his father navigates the Russia-Ukraine war. Trump Jr.’s June 2016 meeting with a Russian attorney in Trump Tower became a major focus of the Robert Mueller investigation.

The Trump Tower meeting was arranged after an email offering Trump Jr. damaging information about Hillary Clinton as “part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump.” Trump Jr. famously responded, “If it’s what you say, I love it, especially later in the summer.” Trump Jr. later dismissed the matter as a “witch hunt,” and the Mueller report concluded that there was not enough evidence to convict him of a crime.

Recently, Kremlev has been working to expand into the U.S. market. In July, his group hosted a bare-knuckle boxing event in Miami, a chance to showcase a particularly bloody form of the sport in which contenders fight without gloves. But the debut was overshadowed when manosphere influencer Andrew Tate, who the IBA had brought in to host, was arrested by U.S. Marshals outside the arena. (Tate is facing rape and sex-trafficking charges in the United Kingdom, which he has denied.) 

Much about Kremlev’s relationship with Trump Jr., and where it is headed, remains unknown. In a press release after the Istanbul panel, the IBA hinted there was more to come. 

“President Kremlev and Donald Trump Jr made it clear – this alliance will not remain symbolic,” the press release read. “More joint initiatives will follow.” 

Here is the latest information from ProPublica:

Update, Sept. 14, 2026: After the story was published, Donald Trump Jr. and Bettina Trump confirmed Umar Kremlev’s role: “Our dear friend Umar very generously hosted two incredible nights of celebrations for us,” they said in a statement published on Bettina’s Instagram account.  

“It was an extraordinarily generous wedding gift from a friend, and something for which we were and remain incredibly grateful,” they added.

“It’s unfortunate that something so personal and happy can be recast as something political or sinister simply because of who someone is or where they come from,” they wrote. “Friendship doesn’t require a political motive.” 

They also drew a distinction between the ceremony held on May 22, which was just family, and the rest of the wedding weekend.

Russia strikes Ukrainian train station near border with Poland, raising many questions, including: Was this an attempted assassination of diplomatic officials?

A Russian drone strike on a train station in Ukraine yesterday, close to the border with Poland appeared to be targeting a train carrying diplomatic officials that had just left the station a few minutes earlier. Did the attack represent an escalation of Russia's war with Ukraine; could it worsen unrest already present in the region? A number of sources, including officials on the apparently targeted train, indicated Russian President Vladimir Putin likely was acting with dubious motives. A prominent commentator in the United States agreed with that assessment.

A jointly published report at UPI and Yahoo! News provides details under the headline "Boris Johnson, David Petraeus, other officials escape drone attack unhurt." Paul Godfrey writes: 

Russia launched a drone strike on a Ukrainian train standing at a station close to the border with Poland shortly after a diplomatic train carrying former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and other British and EU security officials left the station.

The Warsaw-bound train of Johnson, British National Security Advisor Jonathan Powell and the other officials passed through Yahodyn Station ahead of schedule on Sunday en route back from a conference they had been attending in Kyiv.

By the time the drone struck, the train had already crossed into Poland and no one was hurt. Passengers aboard the train that was hit were evacuated safely ahead of the attack with about 15 minutes to spare. 

Robert Scott Horton -- attorney, lecturer at Columbia University Law School, contributing editor at Harper's Magazine, and highly regarded analyst on foreign affairs --writes at BlueSky with a sense of foreboding about the incident near the Ukraine-Poland border. First he raises a question that surely is on the minds of many experts who follow the region:

Did Putin just try to kill Boris Johnson?

The former PM is a fierce Ukraine ally and has a history with the Russian president. 

Horton then provides his answer to the question, and it doesn't provide hope for stability in an unstable region:

Just asking the question politicos across Britain are asking this morning . . . 

And the answer is "yes, probably."

Officials who were on the diplomatic train seemed to think Horton's assessment was on target. They clearly were shaken by the incident but also displayed a deep sense of anger toward Putin. From the UPI/Yahoo! report:

"I don't know what warped logic drove [Russian President Vladimir] Putin to blow up a stationary Ukrainian locomotive on the Polish border this morning," said Johnson, calling it "the kind of random and senseless attack Ukrainians are enduring every day -- even on civilian railways."

He appealed to Kyiv's allies to give Ukrainians "the air defenses they need," as a matter of urgency. 

Former CIA Director David Petraeus, who was aboard another train stopped at Yahodyn Station at the moment of impact, described the attack as "terrifying."

"This is the act of a truly barbaric leader trying to terrorize Ukrainian civilians" he said.

Johnson, Powell, Petraeus and the others had been attending the 23rd Yalta European Strategy conference.

Ahead of an emergency meeting of his cabinet to address the incident, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned that the danger level was rising.

"The escalation of the actions from the Russian side is becoming a reality, and they are getting closer and closer to our border," said Tusk.

How dangerous could the situation along the Ukraine-Poland border be getting? Poland is a member of NATO, and Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty calls for collective defense, meaning:

Johnson, Powell, Petraeus and the others had been attending the 23rd Yalta European Strategy conference.

Ahead of an emergency meeting of his cabinet to address the incident, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned that the danger level was rising.

"The escalation of the actions from the Russian side is becoming a reality, and they are getting closer and closer to our border," said Tusk. 

NATO has 32 members, and they include the following:

Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States. 

Does Putin really want to start a confrontation with a collective defense organization that now includes former Soviet satellite states, such as Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, East Germany and Albania -- along with former Soviet republics (the Baltic States) Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

In a stunningly crass moment, even by Trump standards, the president tells GOP convention attendees to vote Republican (even if they aren't registered) and "cheat like hell"

(Washington Post, Facebook)

Published reports indicate Donald Trump has a number of nasty habits (see here and here). Perhaps the nastiest of all is his tendency to say things publicly that many Americans thought they never would hear a president say. The most grotesque example of that came Thursday evening in Dallas as Trump gave the closing address at his so-called Republican midterm convention. In such a setting, presidents of the past would have sent people on their way by making an innocuous but pleasant statement about all that was accomplished at the event -- even if much wasn't accomplished.

This, however, is Donald Trump, and he seemingly isn't capable of doing something semi-respectable like that. Nope, he told his adherents -- in language about as plain and understandable as Trump's mushy brain can muster -- that they must pledge to "vote Republican in this year's midterms (even if they aren't registered to vote) and "cheat like hell". That seemed to make a few jaws drop in the mainstream media, as reflected by a jointly published report at Forbes and Yahoo! News under the headline "Trump makes GOP convention attendees pledge to vote and 'cheat like hell' in bizarre moment. You can check out a video of Trump's closing address at this link.)

First, I must voice an objection to that headline. Explaining this probably will reveal I have an overactive liberal imagination, but here it goes: I agree that this would be a bizarre moment for any normal president; but Trump is neither normal nor a president (at least in terms of doing the actual work of a president); plus, I have doubts that Trump ever has lawfully been elected president -- without help from Russia, Elon Musk, or both. If those doubts are on target -- and I'm probably one of several million Americans who share them -- that means Trump is not president at this moment, and his ugly act is getting more tiresome by the day.

Let's see what Forbes and Yahoo! have to say about Trump's "bizarre moment," as Siladitya Ray reports:

President Donald Trump on Thursday capped off his speech to close the GOP's midterm convention by leading the audience into a pledge that referred to him as the "greatest president" and suggested they should vote even if they are not registered, after he baselessly accused Democrats of cheating to win elections.

Trump asked the audience to raise their right hand and led them in a pledge to the "greatest president in the history of the United States" to go out and vote in November for the midterms.

With his right hand raised, the president said his supporters should go out with family and friends to vote and said: "I don't care if I'm registered or not, I'm going to try to cheat like hell like they do."

Trump's claims that Democrats have cheated in elections has a slight problem: He never has presented evidence of such cheating that held up in a court of law -- and he's had plenty of opportunities. Here is how CNN put it in a 2024 article at this link.

I like to think that America once was a nation marked by integrity and bravery. But I'm not so sure about that anymore. Such qualities certainly did not seem to be on display among Republicans attending the convention on Thursday night. Photos of the audience taken during Trump's pledge -- and, oddly, they seemed to be mostly women -- indicate attendees did not seem insulted by Trump's insinuation that they would be willing to cheat just because he told them to do it. Instead, they reacted, with claps, laughs, and smiles. Who knew the topic of election fraud in America was such a light-hearted topic?  Siladitya Ray writes:

The line about cheating drew laughter from the audience before Trump attacked the Democrats, alleging, without evidence, "there has never been bigger cheaters."

Trump then made the crowd swear they will go out and vote in September, with the attendees echoing his remarks, and capped it off with "So help me God."

The president quipped that the attendees "can vote Democrat" if they want, but he doesn't believe there's "one person in this room" who would do that and added: "If you vote, you're voting Republican."  

For good measure, Trump told his audience -- presumably his supporters -- "You know what happens if you don't vote, you go to hell." Trump didn't bother to come up with much sensible new material, instead relying on a few old chestnuts, as reported by Forbes/Yahoo!:

Trump once again urged his supporters to pretend that he is on the ballot in November. "You gotta do me the biggest favor: pretend I'm on the ticket. I'm on the ticket." The president then added that this is "going to turn out to be one of the most important elections." Trump's decision to make the midterms a referendum about him comes as his approval rating hit new lows, at 36%.

One of the biggest announcements made during Trump's speech on the first night of the convention was the promise of $5,000 "dividend" checks for all American adults if the Republicans won both the House and the Senate in the midterm elections. None of the other speakers on Thursday night mentioned these checks, including Vice President JD Vance, who delivered the night's keynote address. However, Trump brought it up again in his closing speech but once again offered few details on how he would fund the payouts that could cost more than $1 trillion. 

Hillary Clinton reflects on 25 years of turbulence since the attacks of 9/11, telling "Morning Joe" that Congress has to do the hard work of fixing a broken country

Hillary Clinton and Joe Scarborough (Anthony Scutro/MS NOW)

Much has been written about today's 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on America. One of the most illuminating pieces I've seen comes from MS NOW under the title "Hillary Clinton on what she learned in the aftermath of 9/11 -- and how those lessons apply today." A former first lady, U.S. senator from New York, and secretary of state under President Barack Obama, Clinton appeared yesterday on the "Morning Joe" panel for a wide-ranging discussion about the lessons learned following 9/11 and their relevance to challenges we face today.

Clinton takes questions from hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brezezinski and fellow panelists and shares some challenging and frank words about the muddled future we face with Donald Trump and his Republican allies at the controls. Clinton has been on the national and international political scene for almost 35 years, becoming the first woman to win a major party's presidential nomination and the only woman to win the popular vote for U.S. president. She is widely considered to be one of the most experienced and qualified candidates to ever run for president. She shares insights from a variety of perspectives, including her memories of 9/11, the challenges we face now in a post-9/11 world, and her  concerns about the chaotic and scrambled "leadership" Team Trump is likely to provide going forward.

Clinton long has been a polarizing figure in U.S. politics, perhaps because of her status as an extraordinarily accomplished woman who has sharp opinions she does not mind sharing. In this discussion, her words are brisk, concise, and reflective of a wisdom that has been earned from being "in the arena." I think all Americans can take value from her thoughts at this treacherous time in our history. We invite you to take it in . . . 

The United States marks 25 years since the Sept. 11 attacks tomorrow, with thousands of survivors and first responders still living with illnesses tied to toxic exposure at ground zero. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (then a senator from New York) joined “Morning Joe” today to discuss what she learned in the aftermath of 9/11 — and how those lessons apply to artificial intelligence, the war with Iran, and American democracy.

Mika Brezezinski (MB): MB: You write in a new piece for The Atlantic about a different part of the 9/11 story that is still coming into focus. What are we only now beginning to understand?

Hillary Clinton (HC): Our own government lied to people about the air quality in the area. We circled ground zero, which was still, to me, the most emotionally vivid, horrific view of anything I’ve ever seen, like Dante’s hell.

And as we got closer, it was like a literal black stage curtain had been put across the entire area, and occasionally you would see a foot and a hand and an ax as a firefighter would come through it.

Everything that was in the air was so visible. It wasn’t just what we were feeling in the back of our throats and our noses, but it was surrounding us.

It struck me that it couldn’t be safe to breathe, but I kept being told by official sources that it was fine.

Part of what I learned is that the job of a public official in a crisis is to keep digging for as much information as possible. There were all these competing challenges — everybody wanted to get Wall Street open and “go back to normal.”

But you ought to be able to do more than one thing at a time. I was fortunate enough to put together a Senate hearing. It was the first time we began to get real data, and now all these documents are coming out from the city. Tell people the truth, to the best of your ability. 

Joe Scarborough (JS): The 9/11 Commission identified a “failure of imagination.” Are we seeing that now with artificial intelligence?

HC: People could not imagine that a bunch of guys would learn how to fly and then fly commercial airliners into buildings. That was a failure of imagination and a failure of honesty. 

We faced it during COVID, and now we are facing it with artificial intelligence.

The alarm bells are going off. You have people inside the industry — at OpenAI, Anthropic, and elsewhere — warning about what could happen. Why are we letting ourselves be lulled into inaction? 

What I’m hearing from tech leaders is “Stop us before something really bad happens. I can’t stop myself because I’m not sure he’s going to stop, and I’m not sure China is going to stop.”

In two weeks, there should be a concerted effort by this government to get off social media, quit worrying about ballrooms and ridiculous arches, and come up with a plan to enlist the Chinese. Let’s put an AI commission on warp speed and figure out how to sensibly regulate. 

JS: What did we get right and wrong in the wars that came out of 9/11 — Iraq and Afghanistan? What would you do differently?

HC: Afghanistan was a decision that I think had to be made to try to track down not only Osama bin Laden, but also other Al Qaeda operatives. But Afghanistan morphed into something much bigger. It represented an effort first by the Bush administration, then by the Obama administration, to see how we could create a more stable nation.

Iraq was different. I thought the vote would be used as coercive diplomacy to force Saddam Hussein to come clean about whatever was there. 

But you have to ask yourself: Where are we today? We are the ones strengthening Iran. Have we not learned anything from what we’ve done for the last 25 years?

Willie Geist (WG): Seven months into the war with Iran, what’s the best path forward for the United States?

HC: We’re in a pickle. It seems so tragic because Iran was on the back foot, and there were a lot of pressures that could have been applied to Iran through sanctions and other activities that Trump totally bypassed to make an incredibly ill-advised attack on Iran.

Our best outcome right now is to get allies in Europe and China to help us pressure Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz. Then give space for Trump to say “I got the strait open.” Once traffic is moving, oil prices will come down, and we can step back and see how this develops.

That’s the only thing I can see that could give us anything resembling an out right now.

Jonathan Lemire: How concerned are you that the midterm elections won’t be conducted freely — or that the results won’t be honored?

HC: I take seriously the attitude that Trump and his party have — that they couldn’t win a fair election in these midterms, so they’re going to try to prevent mail-in ballots from being sent and intimidate voters from going to the polls. States, election officials, attorneys general, advocates, and organizers are trying to be as ready as possible to counter whatever they decide to do.

But I am very confident we’re going to take back the House, and I’m increasingly confident we’re going to take the Senate. I think Americans want to put some big checks and balances on Trump for his last two years, given everything he has done — getting us into war, the business deals his family is making with dictators, and not resolving conflicts, leaving them to fester to continue to benefit themselves.

These are real events in people’s lives. You can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig.

The vast majority of Americans, particularly independent swing voters, are done, and they want to check the power that the person in our Oval Office is wielding to an extent never before seen in American history.

JS: You were able to get hardened enemies to the table in Northern Ireland. Why has that been so difficult in the Middle East? 

HC: You’re not going to make peace with your friends. You’ve got to make peace with the guys who have guns, and you’ve got to get everybody at the table.

We got to the brink of a Palestinian state, and we couldn’t get across the line. When Bill [Clinton] convinced Ehud Barak to make that offer for a Palestinian state to Yasser Arafat, he had every assurance from Arafat that he was eventually going to take the deal. But Arafat walked away — for fear of internal opposition, for fear that he’d be killed. When I became Secretary of State, we negotiated a 10-month settlement freeze —  and I couldn’t get the Palestinians in until the ninth month because they could not figure out how to take advantage of this opportunity.

I think we could work with a new government. There should be no impunity for the violence we see in the West Bank. It is not just about the death and destruction of the Palestinians and their property — any time you permit that level of violence, it creeps into the whole society.

It’s unfair, bad, and wrong for the Palestinians, and it’s also very dangerous to Israel. If the Israelis want to vote for that again, the United States has to take a very tough position.

WG: When the next president takes office, how does the country begin to put the pieces back together?

HC: I have had conversations with many of the people who potentially might run for president. I don’t know who will emerge.

But whoever that person is has to take the country on that journey. First and foremost, we’ve got to unite our country. We all have to be Americans again. It’s more important to put country over party. If we don’t separate the hate from the hope, I worry about my grandchildren, just like you worry about your kids.

We have to fix a lot of what’s been broken, and it’s not going to happen overnight. 

Congress has to start legislating, helping people, and doing the hard work — not just arguing and yelling and finger-pointing. We want to get back to taking care of each other again.