Companies backed by investment funds tied to Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump received $3.2 billion in federal awards and $3.1 billion more in contract options after the funds bought in, four Democratic lawmakers wrote to the Pentagon's inspector general on 5 August 2026. The money includes a $620 million Pentagon loan to a magnet maker backed by Trump Jr.'s venture firm, a loan a White House adviser asked the Pentagon to approve, ProPublica reported. Umar Kremlev, a Russian boxing chief decorated by Vladimir Putin and sanctioned by Ukraine, paid hundreds of thousands of dollars toward Trump Jr.'s wedding celebrations in the Bahamas in May. On 6 October the president announced a $6.6 billion submarine yard for Anduril, a defence company in which Trump Jr.'s firm has invested since June 2025. Lawmakers and the watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington have cited federal bribery, ethics, procurement and insider-trading rules in asking the Pentagon's inspector general to investigate.

Donald Trump stood at Sparrows Point in Baltimore County on 6 October 2026 and announced that Anduril Industries would put $3.7 billion into a shipyard to be called Arsenal-2, with the Navy covering a further $2.9 billion, ABC News reported. The president said the yard would build autonomous submarines, torpedo tubes and parts for the Virginia-class attack submarine. An Associated Press photograph dated 6 October shows him at the Anduril event at the Sparrows Point shipyard.

The Navy contract is worth up to $2.9 billion for Virginia-class components and assemblies bound for General Dynamics Electric Boat and HII's Newport News Shipbuilding, with payments tied to "demonstrated production outcomes", Naval News and Defense One reported. Trump told the crowd that taxpayers would receive "a 40 percent stake" in a new Anduril subsidiary running the yard, calling it "proof to our commitment to ensuring the shipyard's enduring success". The Navy's $2.9 billion is 44 per cent of the $6.6 billion total. Anduril said the government was taking no equity stake in Anduril itself. Trump called Palmer Luckey, Anduril's founder, a friend and a "brilliant guy", Truthout reported. Initial operations are planned for 2030, with 3,100 direct jobs. "It's really the government buying the results of what we're able to produce from the facility," Christian Brose, Anduril's president, said, Al Jazeera reported. The Pentagon named Luckey and Elon Musk the previous week to lead Project Meridian, a 120-day study of future warfare announced by Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth. Maryland Governor Wes Moore stayed away from the event; his spokesman said he was blocked from speaking, and the White House said he boycotted it.

The Wall Street Journal reported on 4 August 2026 that Anduril had signed a memorandum of understanding with Tradepoint Atlantic, operator of the 3,300-acre former Bethlehem Steel complex, for a drone-boat plant worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Luckey wrote on X that the story was false. The project announced at the same site on 6 October was a submarine yard priced at roughly 10 times the figure the Journal's sources gave.

ABC News tied the deal to Donald Trump Jr. through 1789 Capital, the Palm Beach venture firm he joined as a partner in November 2024. ABC wrote that 1789 "claimed a major stake in Anduril in June 2025 from a $2.5 billion investment". The $2.5 billion was Anduril's entire Series G round, led by Founders Fund with $1 billion, and 1789 "participated", Mergermarket reported. Anduril raised a further $5 billion in May 2026 at a $61 billion valuation and reported $2.2 billion in 2025 revenue.

ABC News removed the report from its website within a day of publishing it on 7 October, Mediaite reported, and the page returned an error by the morning of 8 October; a copy remains on the Internet Archive. Alexa Henning, a spokesperson for 1789 Capital, wrote on X: "1789 Capital does not have a 'major stake' in Anduril." She wrote that the reporter had conflated the size of funding rounds with 1789's own investments and called the piece a "Total biased hit piece". Trump Jr. wrote on X: "ABC deleted this article in less than 24 hours because it's false."

Anduril's federal business started in 2019, six years before 1789 bought in. By June 2025 the company had won more than $6 billion in government contracts in several countries, including the Army's mixed-reality headset programme taken over from Microsoft and valued at up to $22 billion over its life.

The vehicles and the money behind them

1789 Capital was founded by Omeed Malik, a former Bank of America executive, and the financier Christopher Buskirk, with the Republican donor Rebekah Mercer as a backer. Trump Jr. said in February 2025 that he was "very involved in the strategic decisions" about where the firm invests, according to the Financial Times. The firm's assets grew from about $200 million at the start of 2025 to $2 billion by 31 December 2025 and a reported $3.5 billion by May 2026, according to an investor database compiled from its filings. Its portfolio includes SpaceX and xAI, both controlled by Elon Musk, alongside Anduril, Hadrian, PsiQuantum, Vulcan Elements, Firehawk Aerospace, Polymarket, Tucker Carlson Network and the gun retailer GrabAGun.

Founders Fund, the venture firm Peter Thiel co-founded, led or co-led the Anduril and Hadrian rounds in which 1789 took part. Christian Brose, Anduril's president, said in 2025 that "our founder has given money to Trump and is very supportive of Trump and has been for a very long time".

Trump Jr. and Eric Trump hold an indirect interest in American Ventures, a Texas fund that takes stakes in Nasdaq- and NYSE-listed shells that then merge with defence start-ups. Aureus Greenway Holdings, a Florida golf-course operator, absorbed the drone maker Powerus in October 2026, with American Ventures expected to hold an effective 9.9 per cent, according to regulatory filings reported by Reuters. JFB Construction Holdings, a Florida builder, merged with the Israeli drone maker XTEND in 2026, with American Ventures set to become its largest shareholder at 15 per cent, Calcalist reported.

Dominari Holdings, a Nasdaq-listed broker headquartered in Trump Tower, named both brothers to its advisory board on 11 February 2025. Each received 750,000 shares for the role, worth about $3 million each in April 2025, and each paid $1 million for 216,138 more shares plus warrants, its annual report showed. Each brother held 966,138 shares, about 6.6 per cent of the company, Forbes reported.

Unusual Machines, an Orlando drone-parts maker, made Trump Jr. an adviser in November 2024 and granted him 200,000 shares. A later filing showed him holding 331,580 shares, worth about $4 million in October 2025, the Financial Times reported. Foundation Future Industries, a San Francisco humanoid-robot start-up, named Eric Trump chief strategy adviser in March 2026.

Forbes estimated in December 2025 that Eric Trump was worth about $400 million, 10 times his fortune before the 2024 election, and Trump Jr. about $300 million, six times his November 2024 figure. Forbes put Eric's 7.3 per cent stake in American Bitcoin, the mining company the brothers co-founded in 2025, at about $160 million, and credited each brother with roughly $80 million after tax from sales of World Liberty Financial tokens. Eric briefly passed $1 billion in early September 2025, when American Bitcoin peaked at $14.52 a share, Forbes reported.

MGX, an Abu Dhabi state-backed investment fund, used World Liberty's USD1 stablecoin to pay for a $2 billion stake in the crypto exchange Binance, Eric Trump announced at a Dubai conference on 1 May 2025, Bloomberg reported. World Liberty is the Trump family's crypto venture.

The Financial Times reported on 2 May 2026 that the brothers had taken a stake in a Kazakh tungsten venture that secured up to $1.6 billion in US government-backed financing in 2025, according to bne IntelliNews.

Pentagon awards, company by company

Unusual Machines announced on 15 October 2025 an order from the Army's 101st Airborne Division for 3,500 drone motors compliant with the National Defense Authorization Act, with about 20,000 more components planned for 2026. Allan Evans, the chief executive, said it was the largest US government order for the company's parts. The order came four months after President Trump signed Executive Order 14307, "Unleashing American Drone Dominance", on 6 June 2025. "Don has never communicated with anyone in the administration on behalf of Unusual Machines or about the contract in question," a spokesperson for Trump Jr. told the Financial Times.

Powerus, founded in October 2025 to build Ukrainian-designed combat drones in the United States, named the brothers among its investors in March 2026. It holds a $2.5 million Defense Department order for 1,500 first-person-view drones and an Air Force contract for its Guardian-2 interceptor with a ceiling of $90 million if every option is exercised, Breaking Defense reported. Keith Kellogg, the former Trump envoy to Ukraine, sits on its advisory board. "It never hurts to have their name on something," Kellogg told Reuters of the brothers. Powerus reported first-quarter 2026 sales of $1.2 million.

Powerus completed its merger with Aureus Greenway Holdings on 1 October 2026 and trades on Nasdaq as PUSA. It announced on 5 October an $82 million order for counter-drone systems from an unnamed US government customer, the second order under an existing indefinite-delivery contract, sUAS News reported. "Build it here, build it well, and deliver on schedule," Velicovich said.

Vulcan Elements, a Durham, North Carolina magnet maker with about 30 staff, raised a $65 million Series A in August 2025 led by Altimeter Capital, with 1789 taking part. The Pentagon's Office of Strategic Capital announced a $620 million conditional loan to Vulcan in November 2025, the largest in the office's history. Peter Navarro, the president's senior counsellor for trade and manufacturing and a friend of Trump Jr., asked the Pentagon to approve the loan, ProPublica reported on 28 May 2026. "The call came from the White House: We have to get this done," one person involved told ProPublica. Trump Jr.'s spokesperson said he did not speak to Navarro about Vulcan. Vulcan's valuation rose from about $200 million to $2 billion after the loan.

Firehawk Aerospace, a Dallas-area maker of 3D-printed rocket propellant, raised a $60 million Series C led by 1789, which offered $15 million of it, Forbes reported in January 2025. Firehawk announced a $4 million Air Force award through AFWERX in September 2025 and told ABC News its awards were "solely the product of engineering expertise and capacity". Raytheon invested in its 2022 Series A.

PsiQuantum, the Palo Alto quantum company, raised $1 billion in September 2025 in a round led by affiliates of BlackRock with Temasek and Baillie Gifford, at a $7 billion valuation. 1789 Capital was one of nine new investors, alongside Nvidia's venture arm and the Qatar Investment Authority. ABC News described 1789 as having "raised $1 billion in revenue generation" for the company.

Hadrian, a Torrance, California builder of automated factories, raised $260 million in July 2025 and $131.3 million at the turn of 2026, with 1789 participating in both. The Navy committed up to $900 million to Hadrian's Factory 4 in Cherokee, Alabama, which opened on 20 March 2026 to make submarine parts, after Hadrian put in more than $1.5 billion of its own capital. "More than $1.5 billion in capital from Hadrian comes in first," John Phelan, the Navy secretary, said. Hadrian closed a $1.37 billion Series D on 6 August 2026 at a $7.87 billion valuation, with 1789 again investing.

Foundation Future Industries won Army, Navy and Air Force research contracts totalling $24 million, Time reported in March 2026. Eric Trump and the chief executive, Sankaet Pathak, discussed them on Fox Business on 23 April 2026. "We have to win robotics in the United States of America," Eric Trump said.

XTEND, the Israeli drone maker in which American Ventures became the largest shareholder, won a $12 million Defense Department agreement and was named one of 25 vendors in the Pentagon's Drone Dominance programme, Calcalist and Construction Dive reported.

ABC News calculated that companies backed by the brothers had won more than $6 billion in active or promised government awards since the investments, a total that combines firm orders, contract ceilings, unexercised options, the Vulcan loan and letters of intent. Four Democratic lawmakers wrote on 5 August 2026 that at least 15 such companies had received $3.2 billion in federal awards and $3.1 billion in future options.

Russia

Trump Jr. told a real estate conference in September 2008 that "Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets" in Dubai, SoHo and across New York. "We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia," he said. He was by then a regular visitor to Moscow, Politico reported, and by 2013 was friends with Emin Agalarov, the pop singer son of the billionaire developer Aras Agalarov, whose family hosted that year's Miss Universe pageant, then owned by Donald Trump, in Moscow. Trump Jr. was put in charge of finding a site for a Trump Tower in Moscow, a project that stalled after Western sanctions over Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea.

James Dodson, a golf writer, said Eric Trump told him in 2013 at a Trump course in Charlotte, North Carolina: "We don't rely on American banks. We have all the funding we need out of Russia." Eric Trump wrote on Twitter that the account was "completely fabricated" and told the New York Post: "We have zero ties to Russian investors."

Rob Goldstone, a publicist for the Agalarovs, emailed Trump Jr. on 3 June 2016 offering "official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary" as "part of Russia and its government's support for Mr. Trump". Trump Jr. replied: "if it's what you say I love it especially later in the summer." He, Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort met the Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya at Trump Tower on 9 June 2016. Special counsel Robert Mueller charged no one over the meeting and wrote that "it appears that the information ultimately delivered in the meeting was not valuable."

Trump Jr. posted a clip of President Volodymyr Zelensky in November 2024, days after his father's election win, with the caption: "POV: You're 38 days from losing your allowance." At the Doha Forum in Qatar on 7 December 2025, asked whether his father would walk away from Ukraine, he said: "I think he may." He said Ukraine before the war "was a far more corrupt country than Russia" and that Zelensky "became a borderline deity, especially to the left, where he could do no wrong". He said the United States risked being "the big idiot with the checkbook", Newsweek reported.

Trump Jr. spoke on a panel of the International Boxing Association in Istanbul in September 2025 alongside its president, Umar Kremlev. Kremlev heads the Russian Boxing Federation, formerly led the Night Wolves biker group and was awarded the Order of Friendship by Vladimir Putin in April 2026, ProPublica reported. Ukraine has sanctioned him personally, and he is involved in Healthy Fatherland, a group Ukraine has sanctioned over the alleged abduction of Ukrainian children. The IBA is financed by Gazprom, Russia's state-owned gas company, and lost its Olympic boxing role in 2023.

Trump Jr. married Bettina Anderson on 22 May 2026 on a private island in the Bahamas. Kremlev paid hundreds of thousands of dollars toward the celebrations, including renting a second island for the reception at about $100,000 a night and a fireworks show, through IB Challenger, a Dubai entity affiliated with the IBA, ProPublica reported on 14 September 2026. About 50 people attended the reception, including Kushner, Eric Trump and a large Russian contingent.

"Umar is a personal friend of Don," Trump Jr.'s spokesperson told ProPublica, adding that the two had no business relationship. "Eric has absolutely no clue who this person is, nor has never heard his name," Eric Trump's spokesperson said. Trump Jr. and his wife then said the party was "an extraordinarily generous wedding gift from a friend" and that "Friendship doesn't require a political motive." Frank Montoya Jr., a retired FBI counterintelligence official, told ProPublica: "If I'm paying for your wedding, at some point, you're going to owe me something."

Senator John Curtis, a Utah Republican, asked the Senate Judiciary Committee on 21 September 2026 to subpoena Trump Jr. and Hunter Biden. "A toaster is a wedding gift," Curtis wrote on X. "A private-island party paid for by a Putin-connected oligarch is something else." President Trump said the arrangement was "totally allowed" and that "as I understand it, he paid them back." Kremlev told a press conference in Istanbul on 6 October 2026: "He did repay the money I spent on the present." Kremlev said it was "ridiculous" to expect an invoice after hosting an event, PBS reported.

Powerus, in which the brothers invest through American Ventures, was founded to bring Ukrainian battlefield drone designs into US production. Its president, Brett Velicovich, told Reuters in September 2026 that the company was in talks with Ukrainian defence firms.

Israel and the Gulf

XTEND was founded in Tel Aviv in 2018 by Aviv and Matteo Shapira, Rubi Liani and Adir Tubi. Its technology was first built to help the Israeli army shoot down incendiary balloons launched from Gaza, and the Israel Defense Forces used hundreds of its drones during the war with Hamas to scan tunnels and buildings and launch grenades, The Times of Israel reported. Shapira told the Wall Street Journal in December 2023 that the army used XTEND drones in Gaza to explore buildings and breach doors. The company had a partnership with Israel's Ministry of Defense, according to a company page later deleted, Construction Dive reported.

Eric Trump was among the strategic investors in XTEND's $1.5 billion all-stock merger with JFB Construction Holdings, announced on 17 February 2026. Unusual Machines, the Trump Jr.-advised drone-parts maker, also invested. JFB appointed Stefan Passantino, a deputy White House counsel in Trump's first term, to its board on 13 February 2026. XTEND began trading on the New York Stock Exchange in September 2026 under the ticker XTND, with American Ventures as its largest shareholder at 15 per cent, Calcalist reported. Before the Gaza war, the US Defense Department was XTEND's largest customer, The Times of Israel reported.

The Trump Organization planned two large Israeli developments before the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack. "We could have done two of the biggest buildings in Israel," Eric Trump told Reuters in December 2024. The projects "were slated to be done and then obviously October 7 came around," he said. "You just have to be sensitive to what was happening."

Eric Trump met in spring 2025 with Nitsba Holdings, led by Haim Tsuff, about the Sarona Hotel, a 47-storey tower under construction in Tel Aviv, The New York Times reported on 25 June 2025. He said the building had "the feel of a Trump property" and that "any discussions have been strictly preliminary." Tsuff told the Times that the Trump name could help win approval for 12 more storeys. Eric Trump had earlier looked at a hotel in Jerusalem and toured the Princess Hotel in Eilat, the Times reported in October 2024.

Eric Trump gave an interview to Israel's Channel 13 in October 2025 while promoting his memoir, Under Siege. "I think I could do it if I choose to," he said of a presidential run.

Eric Trump said on Fox & Friends on 12 September 2018 that the journalist Bob Woodward wrote books so "you make three extra shekels". Yair Rosenberg of Tablet said the phrase is used by Hebrew-speaking Israelis and by antisemites writing in English, and Jonathan Weisman of The New York Times said the remark was "outrageous", The Times of Israel reported.

Powerus sought in April 2026 to sell drone interceptors to Gulf states under Iranian attack during the war between Iran and the United States and Israel, the Associated Press reported. Powerus also signed a memorandum of understanding with the Pakistan Air Force and booked a $22.3 million contract to protect energy sites in the Middle East for an undisclosed customer, Reuters reported. Trump Jr. earned about $3.2 million in 2024 from new Trump licensing deals in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam, Forbes estimated.

Velicovich led a Powerus delegation that met Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, Pakistan's army chief, in Rawalpindi on 16 September 2026. Powerus announced the next day that Pakistan's defence ministry had ordered unmanned aerial systems, without giving a value. Andrew Fox, the chief executive, told Reuters that "contracts were secured on merit" and that the brothers had no role in running the company. A spokesperson for Trump Jr. said he was a passive investor with no prior knowledge of the deal.

Robert Garcia, the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said on 8 May 2026: "While Trump's illegal war in Iran is driving up gas and grocery bills for working families, his sons are cashing in on defense contracts funded by hardworking taxpayers."

Stocks and listed vehicles

Trump Jr. holds 2 million shares in New America Acquisition I Corp, a blank-cheque company listed on the New York Stock Exchange, worth more than $20 million, Forbes estimated in December 2025. Forbes put his holdings in Trump Media, GrabAGun, PublicSquare, Dominari and Unusual Machines at about $10 million combined. Both brothers co-founded American Bitcoin in 2025, with Trump Jr.'s stake estimated by Forbes at between 1 and 5 per cent.

Eric Trump holds a stake in Foundation Future Industries alongside his adviser role. Both brothers hold a direct stake in the Kazakh tungsten venture and indirect stakes in Powerus and XTEND AI Robotics through American Ventures.

The laws in play

Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, Peter Navarro and Umar Kremlev face no criminal charges. The complaints lodged by lawmakers and an ethics watchdog point to specific federal laws and rules, and each sets out what investigators would have to prove.

Federal bribery law, 18 U.S.C. § 201, makes it a crime to give anything of value, directly or indirectly, to a public official with intent to influence an official act, and for an official to seek value for "any other person or entity" in return. The same section separately bans gratuities given "for or because of" an official act. The president's sons are private citizens, so the statute would reach them only if value meant for an official passed through them or they joined a scheme with an official. The Supreme Court narrowed "official act" in McDonnell v. United States in 2016 to formal exercises of government power, such as a decision on a contract or loan. Montoya, the retired FBI counterintelligence official, told ProPublica of the Kremlev payments: "If I'm paying for your wedding, at some point, you're going to owe me something."

Executive branch ethics rules, 5 C.F.R. Part 2635, bar officials from using public office for the private gain of friends and from giving preferential treatment to any private company. CREW wrote on 3 June 2026 that Navarro's reported request for the Vulcan loan "likely" broke those rules and that Pentagon officials who acted on it "likely" did too. CREW cited an Office of Government Ethics example in which an official who pressed for a friend's export licence "may also have violated" 18 U.S.C. § 205, a criminal statute that bars officials from acting as agents for private parties before the government. CREW wrote that public reporting did not show Trump Jr. or 1789 discussing Vulcan with any official.

The Federal Acquisition Regulation, FAR 3.101-1, requires government business to be "above reproach" and officials to "avoid strictly any conflict of interest or even the appearance of a conflict of interest." The Competition in Contracting Act requires full and open competition for federal contracts. Warren, Kim and Blumenthal asked Hegseth in January 2026 whether the Vulcan loan was competed. Five Democrats led by Warren wrote to White House chief of staff Susie Wiles on 3 June 2026: "If this report is accurate, it reveals a staggering level of corruption and influence peddling."

Securities law bars trading on material non-public information obtained in breach of a duty of confidence, including by people who receive tips from officials. President Trump said of his children in July 2026: "Almost anything they do, if they want to buy a truck, if they want to buy, you know, they buy an energy efficient truck, they have inside information." The brothers hold listed shares in Dominari Holdings and American Bitcoin, Trump Jr. holds shares in Unusual Machines and Trump Media, and both hold an indirect stake in XTEND AI Robotics through American Ventures. Garcia's 8 May letter to the inspector general raised the risk of the family "profiting from insider" information.

Jamie Raskin, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, wrote to Malik, Buskirk and Trump Jr. on 26 August 2026 that 1789 had grown from about $150 million in assets before Trump Jr. joined to more than $3 billion, "picking out with almost clairvoyant accuracy winner after winner". The letter put the main fund's return at about 200 per cent by 30 June 2026, about 10 times the average for venture firms founded in 2023, with reported gains of about 900 per cent on Vulcan and 4,900 per cent on Polymarket. Raskin wrote that if decisions were being manipulated to give the firm and the family a cut, or the family was getting advance insider information, "these practices constitute clear violations of laws banning governmental conflicts of interest, political insider trading, exploitation of public office for financial gain and fraud." He set a deadline of 9 September for documents. 1789 said its strategy was public before the 2024 election and declined some of the requests as lacking a legal basis, Axios and Crypto Briefing reported.

The Constitution's foreign emoluments clause bars anyone "holding any Office of Profit or Trust" under the United States from accepting presents from "any King, Prince, or foreign State" without Congress's consent. It applies to office holders, and the president's adult sons hold no federal office. Kremlev does not appear on public US sanctions lists, ProPublica reported, so US sanctions law places no bar on payments from him. Ukraine's sanctions on Kremlev bind Ukrainian entities. Garcia wrote to Trump Jr. on 14 September 2026 that his relationship with Kremlev "raises serious national security and public corruption concerns" and asked for "financial records of all purchases made for your wedding by foreign nationals".

The Foreign Agents Registration Act requires anyone acting in the United States at the direction of a foreign principal in political activity to register with the Justice Department. Trump Jr. spoke on an IBA panel in Istanbul in September 2025, and his spokesperson told ProPublica he was not paid.

Mueller examined whether the 2016 Trump Tower meeting broke the federal ban on soliciting a "thing of value" from a foreign national in connection with an election, 52 U.S.C. § 30121. Mueller declined to charge Trump Jr., citing the difficulty of valuing the promised information and of proving that he acted wilfully.

Letters, the inspector general and the responses

Senators Elizabeth Warren, Andy Kim and Richard Blumenthal wrote to Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth in January 2026 asking whether the Vulcan loan was competed and for records of contacts between Pentagon officials and Trump Jr. Garcia wrote to Platte B. Moring III, the Pentagon inspector general, on 8 May 2026 that companies tied to the family had "amassed over $725 million in loans, grants, and awards since President Trump took office".

Garcia, Warren, Blumenthal and Senator Tammy Duckworth wrote jointly to Moring on 5 August 2026. "The potential for corruption is obvious," they wrote. They quoted the president's own remark that his children "have inside information" in "almost anything they do". Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington asked the inspector general and the White House Counsel on 3 June 2026 to examine the Vulcan loan.

"Republicans nearly wore out the subpoena machine investigating Hunter Biden's foreign relationships," Curtis wrote on X in September. "'Trust us' was not enough then, and it is not enough now."

A Pentagon official told ABC News that "outside affiliations, investors, or political connections play absolutely no role in the Department's funding decisions." A spokesperson for the brothers told ABC that their "investment decisions are based solely on their independent business judgment and personal convictions and they do not seek to influence, direct, or participate in any government decision, procurement, award, regulatory action, or other governmental process."

Federal ethics rules bar officials from taking part in matters affecting their relatives' financial interests. The rules place no bar on a president's adult children investing in companies that sell to the government.

Curtis's request to subpoena Trump Jr. sits with the Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Chuck Grassley. Garcia has said he will question Trump Jr. about how 1789's portfolio companies won Pentagon contracts and why Kremlev paid for his wedding celebrations if Democrats win control of the House in the midterm elections on 3 November 2026.