Donald Trump Jr. is reportedly livid with a former college friend who’s been throwing his name around in international business deals — and hinting he’s got damaging dirt on the president’s eldest son.
The Wall Street Journal dropped a late-night report that centers on Gentry Beach, a Texas investor and longtime pal of Trump Jr., who was even a groomsman at his 2005 wedding. According to the Journal, Beach has been globetrotting from Africa to South Asia, pushing mining and luxury real estate projects while quietly name-dropping his Trump connection — just enough to get people listening, but not enough to make it official.
The result? Foreign governments are trying to figure out if Beach is an unofficial envoy for Trump-world.
In one example, the president of the Democratic Republic of Congo sat down with a U.S. diplomat to figure out whether Beach, who was touring Central Africa pitching mining deals, actually had ties to the Trump administration.
“Beach had let it be known he was friends with Donald Trump Jr., showing what senior Congolese officials described as text messages with the U.S. president’s eldest son, and their photos together,” the Journal reports. “Did he speak for the Trump administration?”
Thousands of miles away, Beach was making similar waves in Pakistan. He told reporters in Islamabad that he planned to invest billions in mining operations and build “some of the most high-end luxury properties that have ever existed.” Then came the quote that raised eyebrows:
“I’ve been very close with the Trump administration for a long time.”
Back home, Don Jr. is reportedly fuming — not just at the implication that he’s involved in these deals, but that he keeps getting blindsided by foreign officials who think he’s part of them.
According to the Journal: “Trump Jr., who declined to comment, has privately told people he is frustrated with his old friend. While abroad, Trump Jr. has found himself fending off foreign officials who told him they had heard from Beach that the president’s son was interested in doing business in their countries… Trump Jr. rejected the inquiries and said he wasn’t doing business with Beach.”
In August, Don Jr. had his lawyer send a cease-and-desist letter to Beach demanding he stop suggesting they were business partners. But Beach told the Journal he never received — or even saw — the letter.
Publicly, Trump Jr. hasn’t distanced himself from Beach. But Beach, for his part, seems to know exactly how far he can push things — and maybe why Don Jr. hasn’t gone scorched earth.
When asked about their relationship, Beach didn’t hold back.
“Don has laughingly said many times that we’ve known each other so long, any information we have is mutually destructive,” he told the Journal. “He knows that I’ll always be a loyal friend.”
It’s the kind of quote that drips with unspoken history — and maybe a warning. For now, Beach is still flying under the Trump-adjacent radar, and Don Jr. appears stuck between keeping things quiet and cutting ties completely.
But if what’s shared between them really is “mutually destructive,” the silence might not last forever.
