Trump Family and Friends Are Raising the Alarm About Don. Jr’s New Girlfriend
AP Photo/Alex Brandon
Donald Trump is not a fan of his son Donald Trump Jr.’s new girlfriend, Bettina Anderson, according to multiple sources close to the family who are raising the alarm about the relationship as the new administration prepares to take over Washington D.C. next week.
Seven friends of the Trump family who spoke with Mediaite on condition of anonymity said they are deeply troubled by the budding relationship between Trump Jr. and the 38-year-old social media influencer.
“Individuals close to the president have expressed growing concerns about the potential liability posed by his son’s new relationship,” a close friend of the Trump family told Mediaite on Monday.
One friend of Trump Jr.’s said they called him to warn him that Anderson had an alleged reputation for hard partying and a pattern of dating wealthy men in the affluent Florida enclave. Representatives for Anderson vehemently denied these claims.
“I told him that she’s not someone he should be around, and let him know about her past,” the friend said.
Trump himself is also concerned about the relationship, multiple sources told Mediaite.
“Donald Trump does not approve of his son’s association with Bettina,” one close family friend claimed. “Bettina’s presence is seen as a liability rather than an asset.”
The concern has grown so intense that close Trump confidantes are bringing stories from Anderson’s past directly to the president-elect – and recommending that she be barred from attending the inauguration.
Certain friends and family are concerned that Anderson will be Trump Jr.’s date to the Jan. 20 event, a move that would cement her position as a public face of the new first family.
“The idea that he might have the audacity to bring a casual partner on stage at the inauguration has been described as a potential misstep that could etch this relationship, and its questionable nature, into the history books,” said one family friend.
The relationship first spilled into public view amidst Trump Jr.’s separation from longtime fiancée Kimberly Guilfoyle, who Trump appointed to serve as ambassador to Greece in his incoming administration. Trump Jr. and Guilfoyle still share a home in Jupiter, a town a half-hour north of Mar-a-Lago.
The new couple made their public debut over the holidays, showing up arm-in-arm at Trump’s Florida resort, for Christmas and New Year’s Eve bashes.
Their appearance at the New Year’s party, attended by MAGA luminaries like JD Vance and Elon Musk, sparked a new round of consternation from those close to the Trump family who have voiced their objections about the relationship directly to Trump Jr. and his father.
Some, it seems, have sought to express those objections in the press; since news broke of the relationship last summer, a series of unflattering reports on Anderson’s personal life have been published in the New York Post and the Daily Mail.
“Family members are particularly worried about the optics surrounding Bettina’s reputation and Trump Jr.’s behavior,” said one family friend, who pointed to a story in the Daily Mail on a packet of Zyn, a brand of nicotine pouches, being spotted in a photo of Trump Jr. and his kids.
That might seem like a trivial infraction — but the family friend insisted that such behavior “deviates from [Trump Jr.’s] typically cautious public image. The President, who has long viewed drug and alcohol use as signs of unnecessary weakness, finds this lack of discretion troubling.”
Several sources also cited what they alleged to be “transactional relationships” Anderson engaged in with wealthy men who treated her to lavish gifts. Representatives for Anderson rejected these claims as false.
Two exes of Anderson have even reached out to Trump Jr. to warn him against associating himself with Anderson, multiple sources said.
It’s not just the relationship between Trump Jr. and Anderson that has MAGA insiders concerned – it’s also the potential that she could even serve in the incoming administration.
Last month, the Post reported that Anderson is seeking to secure herself a role, potentially on the president’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities – though a spokesperson for Trump Jr. shot down the idea she would be getting such a position.
One Trump insider agreed: “It is highly unlikely Bettina will secure any role within a future Trump administration.”
Despite these concerns, sources told Mediaite, Anderson is telling Trump insiders she will see them at several inaugural events.
A representative for Trump did not respond to a request for comment.
