Page A2From§Eachthe midnight edition — 16 September 2026

DOJ charges Russian agents with assassination plots, waves off Trump Jr.'s Kremlin-tied wedding sponsor

From the Corner

The Justice Department this week can trace a Kremlin plot to kill someone on American soil closely enough to file charges, and the same week it says it cannot trace a Kremlin-tied boxing boss closely enough to open a file on the afterparty he paid for. That isn't two separate calls made by two separate desks — that's one department deciding in real time which Russian money gets a subpoena and which gets a seating chart. Because the boss's own son took the gift, because the boss's own hire runs the department, because the family already said on the record there's nothing to see here, the paperwork stops exactly where it would start costing somebody a Thanksgiving invitation — which is why the wedding album on your kid's dresser, the one from three years ago, before any of this, still has a security detail in the background who works for the same government that just decided some Russians are worth investigating and some are worth toasting.

“You wanna know how the racket works? The DOJ can nail Russian spies planning a hit on a guy they've never met, no problem, case closed, indictment printed — but a Kremlin-tied boxing guy who bankrolled the President's kid's wedding party gets a shrug and "investigation unlikely." That's not two different Russia problems, that's one department that knows exactly whose money is dangerous and whose money is a wedding gift. And the same week they're deciding that, the boss is personally handing his own staff forty-five grand envelopes marked "holiday gift" — so cash moving inside the building gets a paper trail, cash moving in from Moscow gets a pass. Follow the money and it walks straight past the guy who's supposed to be chasing it.”

Sal

“Look, the Attorney General looked at the facts and made a judgment call — that's the job. Kremlev's a boxing guy, he paid a catering bill, and the family's on record saying there's no connection. You want to indict every rich foreigner who's ever bought open bar at a wedding? That's not — okay, that is a little bit what indicting Russian intelligence agents for planning assassinations is, but those guys had a plot. This is a guy with a tuxedo. Different department, different… I'm gonna go check what department that is.”

Chip

The receipts

The DOJ disbanded its crypto enforcement team in April 2025 and ordered inconsistent investigations closed - while the president's family runs a crypto business CNBC, 8 April 2025 (Blanche memo)

Blanche says investigation unlikely into Russian oligarch's wedding gift to Trump Jr.

ABC Newsmainstream§20:31 EDT

Trump's family members say have no connection to Russian oligarch Umar Kremlev.

~~Hunter Biden trolls Donald Trump Jr. over ritzy Russian-funded wedding: ‘I got married on the rooftop’~~ A Russian oligarch banned from the Olympics over corruption funded Trump Jr.'s wedding

New York Postright§18:52 EDT

Kremlev, 43 is best known as head of the controversial International Boxing Association -- a position he has held since 2020 -- which was stripped of its recognition and banned from the Paris 2024 Olympics over allegations of corruption.

~~Who is Umar Kremlev? Russian businessman who paid for part of Trump Jr.'s wedding~~ Trump Jr. took wedding funding from a Kremlin-linked businessman

ABC Newsmainstream§20:19 EDT

The Russian businessman who paid for the afterparty at President Donald Trump’s eldest son’s wedding has close ties to the Kremlin.

· Prosecutor Joseph diGenova resigns from DOJ role investigating Trump-Russia probes from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026

· Trump gave $45,000 cash gifts to Natalie Harp and other aides for holidays from the morgue, 9 Sep 2026

· Trump gave Natalie Harp, other aides $45K gifts: Disclosures from the morgue, 9 Sep 2026

This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.