On Tuesday, President Trump stood at a Baltimore-area shipyard and announced a $6.6 billion deal with defense company Anduril Industries, with the Navy covering $2.9 billion of it. Anduril is partly owned by a venture fund where his son, Donald Trump Jr., is a partner.
It’s not a one-off. An ABC News analysis published Wednesday found that defense companies backed by Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump have won more than $6 billion in active or promised government contracts since the brothers invested. The brothers, the companies and the Pentagon all deny any favoritism.
Which companies are tied to Trump’s sons?
Donald Trump Jr. became a partner at the venture firm 1789 Capital within days of his father’s 2024 win. Eric Trump invests mainly through American Ventures, run through Dominari Holdings, a small investment bank based in Trump Tower. According to ABC’s review of federal contracting records:
- Anduril Industries: 1789 Capital took a major stake in June 2025. Since then, Anduril has won 135 government contracts worth about $1.8 billion so far, plus Tuesday’s shipyard deal, which Trump said will be called “Arsenal-2.”
- Vulcan Elements: 1789 Capital invested in August 2025 in this rare-earth company. That same month, the Pentagon’s Office of Strategic Capital loaned it $620 million.
- Hadrian: After a $391 million 1789 Capital investment early this year, the automated manufacturer won its first public contracts in March: $39.2 million from the Army and $900 million from the Navy for submarine factories.
- Unusual Machines: Don Jr. became an adviser to the Florida drone maker after the election. It had no government contracts before; in October 2025 it landed a Defense Department order for 3,500 drone motors.
- Powerus: The brothers were named “notable investors” in March 2026. A month later it won its first Air Force order, and in July it was awarded up to $90 million.
- Foundation Future Industries: Eric Trump is chief strategy adviser to this humanoid-robot startup. He and its CEO said on Fox News it won its first contract, worth $24 million, in April.
ABC also found deals tied to Firehawk Aerospace and PsiQuantum. In July, The Washington Post counted 15 companies with investment from Trump’s sons that had won $3.2 billion in federal contracts, investments and loans.
What do the Trump brothers and the Pentagon say?
A spokesperson for Don Jr. and Eric told ABC their investment decisions “are based solely on their independent business judgment” and that they “do not seek to influence, direct, or participate in any government decision, procurement, award, regulatory action, or other governmental process.” The spokesperson called criticism “a deliberate distortion of the facts.”
No company receives preferential treatment. Outside affiliations, investors, or political connections play absolutely no role in the Department’s funding decisions.
A Pentagon official, to ABC News
Some companies note they had government business long before the Trumps arrived. Anduril has held contracts since 2019, and Firehawk’s go back to its founding. A Powerus spokesperson said the brothers aren’t advisers and their stake is indirect: “You can’t sell the government something that won’t protect a soldier.”
Is anyone investigating?
Not yet, as far as the public knows. In May, Sens. Richard Blumenthal, Elizabeth Warren and Tammy Duckworth and Rep. Robert Garcia asked the Pentagon’s inspector general, Platte B. Moring III, to investigate. “Refusal to investigate these serious allegations will raise significant concerns about whether your office is able to perform its statutory duty as an independent watchdog,” they wrote. Democrats renewed the demand in August after the Post’s report. The inspector general hasn’t announced a review.
The BeezLoop Take
Nobody has shown that a single contract was steered to these companies, and the Pentagon may be right that each award stands on its merits. Anduril, in particular, is a serious defense company that was winning work long before 2024.
But that’s not the standard for public officials, and it shouldn’t be. The pattern is the problem: companies with no government business sign up a Trump son as an adviser or investor, and then win their first federal contracts within months. When the president himself stands at a podium announcing billions for a company his son’s fund owns a piece of, the appearance of a conflict isn’t a media invention. It’s on stage.
The fix is simple and old-fashioned: an independent inspector general review, and full disclosure of the family’s stakes before awards are made, not after reporters dig them up. Democrats have been asking since May. Why won’t the Pentagon’s own watchdog look?
Also on BeezLoop: Hegseth is building an autonomous warfare command, with Anduril founder Palmer Luckey among its advisers, and Trump called a $15 billion Iowa steel plant and a $54 billion Alaska gas deal done. Neither one was.
Sources: ABC News · The Washington Post · The Detroit News · USASpending.gov · SAM.gov · New York Post (Anduril announcement)
