While his father controls the Pentagon's spending decisions, Trump's sons have been quietly building a defense tech portfolio worth billions.

"Even if not buying drones from China is in the public interest, it's completely reasonable to doubt that it's in the public interest when the Trump family is benefiting financially from it."

Kathleen Clark, government ethics law professor, Washington University School of Law

The Washington Post published a detailed investigation on Monday revealing the scale of what amounts to the most ambitious family defense contracting operation in American history: Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump have invested in more than a dozen defense technology companies that have collectively secured at least $3.2 billion in federal contracts since their investment, plus an additional $3.1 billion in future contract options.

The companies span the full range of modern warfare. SpaceX and Anduril account for 97 percent of the direct government cash in the Post's tally. Hadrian, which builds AI-enabled factories for aerospace and defense, recently received a $900 million commitment from the Navy. Vulcan Elements, a rare earth magnet manufacturer, was awarded a $620 million Pentagon loan. Drone maker Unusual Machines saw its stock double when Trump Jr. announced he was joining as an investor within days of his father's election, then received a $12.8 million Army order the following year.

Translation: the president of the United States has positioned his sons to profit from every major spending decision the Pentagon makes.

The investments flowed through two primary vehicles. Trump Jr. channels his defense bets through 1789 Capital, a venture firm based in Palm Beach that describes its philosophy as "patriotic capitalism" and "America First" investing. The firm is controlled by Chris Buskirk, a key strategist for Vice President JD Vance, and Trump donor Omeed Malik. Since Trump Jr. joined as a partner, 1789 Capital has attracted roughly $3 billion in capital under management, according to a person familiar with the firm's activities.

Eric Trump invests primarily through American Ventures, a division of Dominari Holdings, a boutique investment bank located in Trump Tower. Dominari has become the financial engine for the sons' defense, cryptocurrency, and mining deals. The firm has taken several early-stage defense start-ups public using reverse mergers, a strategy the SEC has warned is "among the most risky" for everyday investors.

Neither son had any notable experience in the defense technology industry before they began investing. Both are vice presidents at the Trump Organization and hold no official government roles.

But their access is not theoretical. Trump Jr. told an investment conference last year that he "helped craft some of" the Defense Department's messaging. On his podcast, he said that in assisting Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth with personnel decisions, he was looking for candidates who wanted to spend more money on drones.

The timing of these investments maps neatly onto the administration's policy choices. The Trump administration made "modernizing the tools of warfighting" a centerpiece of its national security agenda, ramping up spending on AI, drones, and next-generation weaponry. In December, the FCC halted imports of new Chinese drones. In June 2025, Trump signed an executive order ordering federal agencies to accelerate testing and commercialization of U.S.-made drone technology.

The Trump brothers invested in at least four drone makers. All four received government business during the second Trump administration.

Some of the companies that benefited had existing contracts under the Biden administration. But five companies in the Post's tally got their first federal contracts after the sons invested and while their father was president. Some firms gained spots on exclusive shortlists of preapproved contractors that can bid on up to nearly $200 billion in future work.

The Pentagon under Trump has also shifted toward faster, less transparent contracting for selected start-ups. Defense policy experts say this was well underway during Biden's term but has been "turbocharged" by the current administration, partly in response to lessons from Ukraine and the Middle East.

The official denials follow a familiar pattern. A White House spokeswoman, Anna Kelly, called it "the same, tired narrative that Democrats have pushed against President Trump, his family, and his administration for a decade." A Pentagon spokesperson said "outside affiliations, investors, or political connections play absolutely no role in the department's funding decisions."

Trump Jr.'s spokesman, Andy Surabian, said his client "does not interface with the Federal Government as part of his role with any company that he invests in or advises." A person familiar with 1789 Capital said Trump Jr. does not sit on the firm's investment committee.

Company representatives who responded to the Post said they secured their business through "rigorous Pentagon contracting processes, based on the merits of their products and services, and without assistance or intervention from the president's family."

But the Unusual Machines CEO, Allan Evans, offered a more candid account. Evans said Trump Jr.'s involvement "boosted the company's visibility and stock price," and that the Trump scion's "strong on-shoring, made-in-America audience and brand" was an "appealing way to drive attention and find retail investors." When asked whether the affiliation with the president's family helped the company within government circles, Evans said, "Do I think that people know who we are, maybe more in senior leadership or other places, because of the affiliation or because he's an investor? You know, I hope he talks about us all the time to everyone."

Then Evans added: "How's it a problem if we're not asking for anything and he's not advocating for anything and we don't have direct government contracts?"

The problem, of course, is that the contracts keep coming anyway.

The ethics concern goes beyond mere optics. Kathleen Clark, who teaches government ethics law at Washington University School of Law, said the Trump sons' ventures must be viewed alongside "the broader dismantling of oversight processes and anti-corruption standards in the executive branch that has occurred in Trump's second term." She said it would be "completely reasonable for a decision-maker in the federal government under Trump 2.0 to believe that taking action against the Trump family financial interest is a dangerous thing."

Democratic senators Elizabeth Warren and Richard Blumenthal pressed Hegseth on the Pentagon's failure to protect defense contracting from potential Trump family corruption. House Oversight Democrats Ranking Member Robert Garcia formally demanded that the Defense Department watchdog investigate what he called "shady Trump family defense contracts."

Joyce Vance, a former U.S. attorney appointed by Barack Obama, summarized the dynamic plainly in a social media post: "How fortunate for these two that Daddy can pardon them on the way out the door. Those around them may be less fortunate."

The broader context makes the scale of this operation harder to ignore. The Trump family has expanded well beyond real estate, accumulating large stakes in cryptocurrency, mining, and now defense technology. Kushner is simultaneously a special peace envoy to the Middle East and a major fundraiser for his private equity firm, which has Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund as its largest investor. Witkoff, the other special envoy, retained financial stakes in the World Liberty Financial cryptocurrency venture while leading negotiations with the UAE, whose royal family invested $500 million in the company.

Now the sons are doing the same thing, but with the Pentagon's checkbook instead of foreign governments.

Before the Trumps, presidential family members have worked in industries tied to regulation or government funding. Hunter Biden was a corporate consultant when his father was vice president. Two of George H.W. Bush's sons worked for oil companies while their father was president. But the sheer scope of the Trump family's involvement with private businesses standing to benefit from federal decisions, combined with the systematic weakening of the institutions meant to police such arrangements, is unprecedented.

The question is not whether the Trump sons followed the letter of whatever diminished ethics standards survive in the current White House. The question is what happens to federal procurement when the families of people who set national security priorities can invest in the industries those priorities are designed to enrich, and when the agencies meant to oversee the process are staffed by people who know their careers depend on not looking too closely.

The Pentagon says no company receives preferential treatment. The White House says there are no conflicts of interest. The companies say they earned their contracts on merit. And the contracts keep arriving for firms that happen to be owned by investment groups run by the president's sons.

The American public has been told to trust the process. The process is the problem.