Questions arise over Jr.’s biz with hedgie

Donald Trump Jr. reportedly has a business relationship with a Texas hedge-fund manager and longtime hunting pal who raised millions of dollars for Trump Sr.’s presidential campaign, providing the man with special access to top government officials.

The president’s son and Gentry Beach have been involved in business deals since the mid-2000s and recently formed a company called Future Venture LLC — even though both have claimed they were just friends, The Associated Press reported on Monday , citing court records and other documents.

In February 2017, a month after Trump was sworn in as president, Beach and an Iraqi-American businessman met with top officials at the National Security Council to pitch the idea of easing sanctions on Venezuela in exchange for opening business opportunities there for US compa- nies, the report said, adding that NSC lawyers had concerns about the meeting.

Ultimately, the United States didn’t act on Beach’s proposal because it would have conflicted with the president’s stand against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Beach also met with Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke during a private lunch in Dallas seven months after the NSC meeting.

Ethics experts said Trump Jr.’s relationship with Beach, and Beach’s access to government officials, raises red flags.

“This feeds into the same concerns that we’ve had all along: The really fuzzy line between the presidency and the Trumps’ companies,” Noah Bookbinder, head of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, told the AP.

The Trump Organization denied that Trump Jr. set up any of Beach’s meetings.