Sen. John Curtis (R-Utah) has formally requested that the Senate Judiciary Committee investigate the foreign business entanglements of Donald Trump Jr. and Hunter Biden, and issue subpoenas compelling both men to testify. In a letter to Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and ranking member Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Curtis argued that reports of foreign actors leveraging family ties to gain access to presidents raise serious questions about undue influence.
“These reports raise legitimate questions about foreign access to members of a sitting president’s family and whether such a relationship can create actual or perceived expectations of favorable treatment,” Curtis wrote. He asked the panel to examine “the use of presidential family relationships for private financial benefit, preferential treatment or access by domestic and foreign interests.”
The move by a Republican senator to target the president’s son is a political bombshell just weeks before the midterm elections. Most GOP senators have avoided crossing former President Trump, wary of his hold on the party base. Curtis’s willingness to do so stands out, especially as he is not up for reelection this cycle. His call to investigate Hunter Biden, by contrast, aligns with long-standing Republican priorities.
Curtis pointed to Hunter Biden’s “substantial business with foreign entities, including interests in China and Ukraine, while his father held or sought public office.” He also cited a recent ProPublica report that Russian oligarch Umar Kremlev covered a large share of the costs for Donald Trump Jr.’s three-day post-wedding celebration in the Bahamas.
The Utah Republican said his concerns about Kremlev’s generosity were “compounded by Donald Trump Jr.’s active promotion of family-backed cryptocurrency ventures, his continued pursuit of international real estate deals involving direct meetings with foreign heads of state, and his reported investments in defense contracting.” He further flagged Trump Jr.’s “significant financial and advisory ties to prediction market platforms that depend on favorable federal regulatory decisions being considered by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.”
In the letter, Curtis urged Grassley and Durbin to subpoena both Trump Jr. and Hunter Biden to testify about their past dealings with foreign individuals and entities, as well as any gifts they have received. “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.”
The request comes as Republicans try to keep their focus on inflation, crime, and border security ahead of November. But Trump’s continued dominance of the news cycle—whether through his focus on monuments and press feuds or his new White House TV venture—has complicated that messaging. Curtis’s letter could further distract from the GOP’s closing arguments.
Democrats, meanwhile, have their own oversight priorities. They have pressed for investigations into Trump family business dealings, including those related to the former president’s Washington hotel and foreign payments. Curtis’s call for a bipartisan probe may find some Democratic support, but it remains unclear whether Grassley will act on it. A spokesman for the chairman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
For now, Curtis’s letter injects a new element of intra-party tension into the final stretch of the campaign. It also signals that some Republicans are willing to scrutinize their own—at least when it comes to the former president’s inner circle. Whether that translates into actual subpoenas will depend on whether Grassley and Durbin can agree on a path forward.
