Lawmakers call for Pentagon probe of Trump family-backed companies
Companies with investments from President Donald Trump’s sons have garnered $3.2 billion in federal contracts, investments, and loans, most coming after Trump took office for the second time.
A group of Democratic lawmakers have asked the Pentagon’s official watchdog to open an investigation after the Washington Post revealed that 15 companies with investment from President Donald Trump’s sons have garnered $3.2 billion in federal contracts, investments, and loans — most coming after Trump took office for the second time.
The letter from Sens. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Richard Blumenthal (Conn.), Tammy Duckworth (Ill.), and Rep. Robert Garcia (Calif.) asks for an inquiry into Defense Department contracts awarded to companies affiliated with Eric and Donald Trump Jr., according to a copy of the request provided to the Post.
Excluding giants SpaceX and Anduril from the tally, companies with investment from funds associated with Trump’s sons have gained more than three times the number of government contracts and other funding than they had before the president’s second term, the Post reported.
“We are concerned about a growing cloud of corruption amid questions about whether the President’s family and administration officials may be abusing their positions to influence DoD awards, and the extent to which this is undermining the competitive, apolitical contracting process used to ensure that service members have the best equipment and most effective technologies and weapons systems on the market,” the lawmakers wrote in the letter to the Pentagon’s inspector general, Platte B. Moring III.
Trump’s sons have amassed a sizable portfolio of defense technology startups as the Pentagon shifts its strategic focus to new warfighting tools, putting large amounts of money into developing smaller, nimbler weaponry. While the new direction has broad bipartisan support, ethics experts and Democrats have raised transparency concerns about how companies are selected for opportunities. Republicans have largely avoided the issue.
The Trump brothers have said that their investments in companies seeking defense contracts are aligned with patriotic goals of creating new U.S. manufacturing jobs and defeating China’s edge in drones, artificial intelligence, and other critical components of the supply chain. Trump Jr. previously told the Post, through a spokesperson, that he does not “interface with the Federal Government as part of his role with any company he invests in or advises.” The spokesperson, Andy Surabian, stressed that Trump Jr. is a private citizen and a businessperson who has never served in government.
A spokesperson for the Trump organization, Kimberly Benza, told the Post that “Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. are passive, minority investors with absolutely no involvement in the day-to-day operations, strategic decisions, management, or any activities of these companies. They have no role whatsoever in the awarding, oversight, or management of any government contracts and remain proud to invest in American companies and American technology.”
White House spokesperson Anna Kelly referred the Post to an earlier statement that said there were “no conflicts of interest” and that “This is the same, tired narrative that Democrats have pushed against President Trump, his family, and his administration for a decade.”
The Pentagon also referred to the department’s earlier statement from acting Pentagon press secretary Joel Valdez in response to the Post’s original story. The statement said that “No company receives preferential treatment.”
One company that Trump Jr. is invested in, Vulcan Elements, received a $620 million direct federal loan from the Pentagon’s Office of Strategic Capital. The Post previously reported that the company was fast-tracked ahead of other firms waiting in line for a loan from the unit, which focuses on innovative technology. ProPublica reported that a senior White House official, Peter Navarro, intervened on behalf of the company to help it garner a loan.
While no evidence has surfaced that either brother has used political connections inappropriately to advocate for their companies — and doing so is not against the law — ethics experts have said the brothers should not be involved in companies whose primary business is seeking government contracts because of the potential for abuse. Many of the companies that the brothers are invested in are not primarily defense companies, but sell to the Pentagon as a part of their business.
The congressional letter requests that the inspector general probe Pentagon awards to Trump family-tied companies, and review the decision-making process to determine whether protocols to prohibit conflicts of interest are being followed. The lawmakers noted in their letter that they have “repeatedly sought, and failed to obtain” an explanation from the Pentagon and White House about the decision-making criteria and the ethics obligations associated with recent awards to the companies.
According to the letter, the Pentagon responded to a previous request with assurance that the Office of Strategic Capital is “committed to upholding the highest ethical standards” and ensuring that the process is free of conflicts of interests. The lawmakers described that response as unsatisfactory, saying it “left us with more concerns that OSC is unaware of or willfully ignoring the potential for corruption in the awards process at the expense of U.S. national security.”
Trump Jr.’s investment portfolio largely runs through a venture firm called 1789 Capital. The firm has garnered billions in new investment since Trump Jr. joined as a partner in November 2024, just days after his father was reelected president, according to the Post’s previous reporting. Trump Jr. does not sit on the firm’s investment committee, the Post reported, meaning he doesn’t make direct investment decisions, even though he shares in the profit as a partner in the firm. 1789 Capital declined to comment.
Eric Trump’s defense tech investments run through American Ventures, the venture capital arm of the investment bank Dominari Holdings. Dominari is located in Trump Tower and its leaders are friendly with the Trump brothers, according to people familiar with the relationship, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to describe it.