Trump sons-backed firms bank $6 billion plus in Pentagon deals. Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump are the new conflicted faces of America's military-industrial complex An analysis published on Wednesday by ABC News estimated that companies backed financially by Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump have so far scored more than $6 billion in contracts from the US Department of Defense. As ABC documented, many of the investments into the defense firms come through 1789 Capital, a venture capital firm founded by pro-Trump donors in 2023 that brought Trump Jr. in as a partner in 2024. The most recent example came earlier this week, when President Donald Trump announced a multibillion-dollar funding agreement with AI defense firm Anduril Industries, more than a year after 1789 Capital claimed a $2.5 billion stake in the company. The ABC report also pointed to Florida-based drone parts manufacturer Unusual Machines securing a deal to supply motors for the US Army last year, mere months after the company named Trump Jr. as an adviser. Drone company Powerus, which lists both Trump sons as investors, won a purchase order from the US Air Force earlier this year for an undisclosed amount. Neither Unusual Machines nor Powerus had previously received government contracts prior to getting investments from the Trump brothers. Vulcan Elements, a rare earths magnet startup that has received funding from 1789 Capital, last year received a $620 million loan from the Pentagon. Foundation Future Industries, a robotics startup that named Eric Trump as its chief strategy adviser, was awarded a $24 million Pentagon contract in April. Shortly after the deal was announced, the Trump son boasted to Fox Business that it would help the US "win" the race with China to build battle-ready robots. A spokesperson for the Trump brothers told ABC that they "are experienced business leaders who have built and invested in businesses across a wide range of industries for decades, long before their father first ran for public office." "Their investment decisions are based solely on their independent business judgment and personal convictions," the spokesperson said, "and they do not seek to influence, direct, or participate in any government decision, procurement, award, regulatory action, or other governmental process. Attempts to portray their ordinary investment activities as improper are a deliberate distortion of the facts." Critics of the Trump family, however, were quick to accuse the two Trump brothers of engaging in unprecedented corruption. "Donald Trump and his sons have raked in BILLIONS while Americans struggle to make ends meet," wrote the social media account for Democrats in the US House of Representatives. "Let's call this what it is: blatant corruption and an abuse of power." Phillips O'Brien, professor of strategic studies at the University of St. Andrews, said congressional Democrats should use the power of the purse to defund the Trump family's self-dealing. "Corruption of this kind is why the Democrats need to freeze or cut back US defense spending if they take control of Congress," O'Brien wrote in a social media post. "If you actually care about US security, funding this is destructive." Mark Jacob, former metro editor at the Chicago Tribune, wrote that Pentagon contracts for the Trump-linked firms were "not a coincidence" but "deep corruption that never would have been tolerated before a convicted felon took over the White House." Sarah Longwell, a former Republican pollster who left the party over its embrace of Trump, said the deals show that "the president of the United States and his family are insanely, unprecedentedly corrupt."

U.S. Army competitively selects Vulcan Elements to supply high-performance rare earth magnets for SkyFoundry drone initiative. Sep 23, 2026, 08:30 ET Award recognizes Vulcan's proven domestic rare earth magnet manufacturing capability DURHAM, N.C., Sept. 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ - Vulcan Elements, an American rare earth magnet manufacturer, today announced its competitive selection by the U.S. Army to supply high-performance Neodymium Iron Boron magnets for the Army's SkyFoundry drone initiative. SkyFoundry is the Army's vertically-integrated effort to produce small drones that aims to produce one million drones per year in the United States, at the Tobyhanna Army Depot in Pennsylvania. Vulcan was competitively selected after providing data sheets that matched the high-performance specifications required by the Army. A key requirement of the solicitation was "a fully domestic, vertically integrated manufacturing process." The Army also required multiple evaluations of Vulcan's capability and past performance by current customers. "Rare earth magnets are foundational to the military capabilities that we need to defend our country, including drones. Vulcan is working every day to bring this vital capability back to American soil," said John Maslin, CEO of Vulcan Elements. "As small drone systems become even more critical on the modern battlefield, we're committed to ensuring that our military can manufacture them without having to ask for permission. This isn't just a manufacturing challenge; it's a national security imperative." Vulcan has developed a proven solution to one of the country's most critical economic vulnerabilities, and to its knowledge is the world's only rare earth magnet company that is decoupled from China - down to the material, technology, software, IP, and ownership. Vulcan's magnets will enable the Army's production of brushless direct current motors - the primary engine powering the Army's small drone capabilities. The award is Vulcan's 10th Department of War contract to date, spanning multiple administrations and every branch of the U.S. military, across some of its highest priority programs. This award highlights Vulcan's demonstrated ability to manufacture high-performance magnets for both defense and commercial customers. Vulcan Elements' Benson, North Carolina, manufacturing facility currently under construction will be the cornerstone of a domestic rare earth magnet supply chain and the largest rare earth magnet factory outside of China. The 1.1 million-square-foot facility will have an annual capacity of 10,000 metric tons of magnet production and will supply magnets for critical defense systems, semiconductor fabrication, robotics, drones, AI infrastructure, automobiles, and other strategic technologies and sectors of the American economy. The project will create approximately 1,000 manufacturing jobs in the United States while reshoring an essential capability that has been controlled and weaponized by America's competitors for decades. About Vulcan Elements Vulcan Elements is an American rare earth magnet manufacturer driven by a core mission: to rebuild a secure, resilient rare earth magnet supply chain for America and its allies, and enable the technologies that will define the 21st century. Vulcan's world-class engineering, scientific rigor, and uncompromising work ethic are onshoring a fundamental capability to the United States and setting a new standard for advanced rare earth magnet production. The company partners across the public and private sectors to advance economic competitiveness, revitalize the industrial workforce, and strengthen national security. SOURCE Vulcan Elements

Dems probe Trump Jr.'s firm while their prosecutor stonewalls Congress. House Dems target Trump Jr.'s venture firm while a Democrat DA blocks oversight into illegal alien plea deals House Judiciary Committee Democrats are demanding records from Donald Trump Jr.'s venture capital firm while a Democrat prosecutor in Virginia obstructs the same committee's investigation into his office allegedly giving illegal aliens softer deals than American defendants - a split screen that tells you everything about who Washington holds accountable and who it shields. The contrast isn't subtle. Ranking member Jamie Raskin fired off a letter to Trump Jr. and 1789 Capital founders Omeed Malik and Christopher Buskirk demanding investment records and communications with government officials by September 9, according to The Guardian. Raskin called the firm's growth - from $150 million in assets under management to a reported $3.5 billion by May - a "miraculous transformation" and said it is "impossible to believe" the success came from anything other than "insider political influence and thoroughgoing corruption." 1789 Capital counsel AJ Merton called the allegations "unsubstantiated talking points" and said repackaging press clippings on congressional letterhead "is a hallmark of partisan stunts and politically motivated harassment, not oversight." Raskin, in the minority, lacks subpoena power without Republican cooperation. Raskin's letter points to 1789 Capital's investment in Vulcan Elements, a rare earth company, and notes the Pentagon later announced a $620 million direct loan to the firm while the Commerce Department provided a $50 million grant under the Chips and Science Act - legislation signed by Joe Biden. Trump himself told CNBC in July that his children have "inside information" because his policies touch nearly every part of the economy. Follow the money: 40 percent of 1789 Capital's assets came from foreign investors, according to SEC filings reviewed by The Guardian and CNN. That deserves scrutiny - and the public interest in whether access to the presidency is being monetized is real. But so is the investigation Democrats are obstructing on the other side of the same committee. Chairman Jim Jordan and Immigration Subcommittee Chairman Tom McClintock have been trying since January to get documents from Fairfax County Commonwealth Attorney Steve Descano over allegations his office offers preferential plea deals to illegal alien defendants. Descano has refused, claiming Congress has no oversight over his office - an argument Jordan and McClintock rejected this week, citing Supreme Court precedent affirming broad congressional oversight powers, Breitbart reported. The stakes are not abstract. Descano testified in May after the murder of Stephanie Minter, allegedly stabbed to death at a bus stop by Abdul Jalloh, an illegal alien from Sierra Leone with more than 30 prior arrests. Descano's office had repeatedly dropped charges against Jalloh. "This is something I will never get to experience again because of the failures of our justice system," Minter's mother Cheryl said. So here is the two-tiered system in plain view: Democrats on the Judiciary Committee chase venture capital returns they find politically suspicious, armed with letterhead and press clippings but no subpoena power. Meanwhile, a Democrat prosecutor accused of going easy on illegal aliens with dozens of prior arrests - until an American mother is dead - tells the same committee it has no right to see his records. One investigation targets a president's son. The other shields a system that failed a dead citizen. The question isn't whether 1789 Capital deserves scrutiny. It's whether Washington only investigates the people it opposes and protects the people it needs.