A Republican senator on Tuesday called for the Senate to investigate whether Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son, exploited his access to his father for personal gain, spurred by reports that a Russian oligarch funded a lavish wedding after-party for the younger Mr. Trump.
In a three-page letter, Senator John Curtis, Republican of Utah, urged the Judiciary Committee to subpoena Donald Trump Jr., after it was revealed that a Russian businessman with ties to the Kremlin paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for the festivities on an island in the Bahamas this year.
Issuing such a subpoena would be exceedingly unlikely by the Republican-led panel, and top Republicans would not say on Tuesday whether they planned to take action. But the request by Mr. Curtis marked a rare instance of a G.O.P. lawmaker daring to challenge the president.
The president has said that his son would repay the Russian businessman, Umar Kremlev, for what he called a wedding gift. But Mr. Curtis rejected that characterization.
“A toaster is a wedding gift,” the senator said in a social media post. “A private-island party paid for by a Putin-connected oligarch is something else. Republicans nearly wore out the subpoena machine investigating Hunter Biden’s foreign relationships. We should not unplug it now.”
For years, Congress scrutinized President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s son, Hunter, and whether he milked his connection to his father as a means to bolster his foreign business dealings. In their inquiry, G.O.P. lawmakers looked at whether the younger Mr. Biden’s foreign business dealings were inappropriately connected to the president, a claim that he vehemently denied.
On Wednesday, Mr. Curtis pressed lawmakers to look again at Hunter Biden in addition to Mr. Trump’s son. He said the committee should scrutinize foreign actors’ access to the first family and whether “such relationships can create actual or perceived expectations of favorable treatment.”
Since House Republicans issued a criminal referral against him in 2024, Hunter Biden was pardoned by his father. In response to Mr. Curtis’s request on Tuesday, he said: “Bring it on.”
The Utah Republican’s call for an inquiry came as a growing group of Republicans has become more emboldened about breaking with the president ahead of November’s elections. Representative Ashley Hinson of Iowa, a Republican running for the Senate, called on Mr. Trump on Monday to end the war with Iran. That came just days after two other G.O.P. lawmakers from Iowa who are battling for re-election, Representatives Zach Nunn and Mariannette Miller-Meeks, crossed party lines to help push through a Democratic measure directing Mr. Trump to halt the conflict.
Such dissent has placed Republican leaders in a difficult position.
Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said on Tuesday that he had not finished reading Mr. Curtis’s letter and could not weigh in on it.
Senator John Thune of South Dakota, the majority leader, also did not express a view.
“I understand there’s been a request to get some of that information, and you know, Chairman Grassley and the relevant committee would have to make some determinations about that,” Mr. Thune said.
Donald Trump Jr. admitted to accepting gifts from Mr. Kremlev, the president of the International Boxing Association, after ProPublica reported on the arrangement. The festivities he paid for included renting a private island and a fireworks display. The president did not attend the wedding.
Mr. Kremlev has direct ties to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. His boxing association is also backed by Gazprom, Russia’s government-owned natural gas company.
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