Don Jr's secret prediction market remarks emerge that could pad his family's pockets

Donald Trump Jr. has insisted the family's businesses and his father's government don't mix, but a private appearance he made this spring tells a different story, according to The New York Times.

The president's son turned up in early March at a Republican attorneys general gathering and used a stage interview at the three-day affair at New Orleans' Ritz-Carlton with Montana's top prosecutor to work the officials directly, four people briefed on the exchange told the paper. He targeted a push by states to rein in prediction markets, the fast-growing betting sector his family holds a financial stake in.

He essentially told the room not to be fooled by the industry's critics and that the real "vested interest" was the gambling companies trying to guard their "monopolies" by kneecapping the newer platforms. Those platforms, he argued, are already watched closely by federal regulators instead of state attorneys general.

The remarks, previously unreported, echoed the White House's messaging aimed at the states to back down.

Roughly 20 states are now fighting in court over whether outfits like Kalshi and Polymarket must play by state sports-gambling rules, and a 44-state coalition recently branded them a "new form of casino" that hooks young people. The rulings could decide whether Americans get to bet on ballgames, elections and almost everything else imaginable.

It all unfolds as the president himself has savaged lawmakers targeting a business his family is wrapped up in.