The defence makes the Trumps rich

President Donald Trump’s sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, have set up military technology start-ups that are benefiting from the Pentagon’s new spending priorities, thereby further entangling US interests with the Trump family’s financial fortunes in a sector of immense importance to national security. Whilst the current administration has made the modernisation of military capabilities a cornerstone of its national security agenda, funds linked to the Trump brothers have invested in more than a dozen military technology firms and other companies seeking contracts from the Pentagon and federal agencies. This has been revealed by an analysis by the Washington Post based on public databases of federal contracts, press releases and data from PitchBook, a venture capital research platform.

Most of the investment has taken place since Trump was elected president for the second time. The companies have collectively secured at least $3.2 billion in direct government contracts since the two brothers invested in them, plus a further $3.1 billion in future contractual options. Some have secured coveted places on lists of pre-approved contractors, which allows them to bid exclusively for future work worth up to nearly $200 billion. Trump’s sons are part of investment groups that have poured capital into established government contractors, such as SpaceX and Anduril, as well as into lesser-known start-ups aiming to build a new generation of agile, technologically advanced weaponry – from drones to humanoid robots capable of both mowing the lawn and using lethal force. Most of the companies operate in the defence sector, but some focus on products not intended for the battlefield: one is collaborating with the luxury fashion house Prada to design space suits, whilst another is attempting to build quantum computers.

Spokespeople for the companies that responded to requests for comment stated that their firms had been awarded the contracts through rigorous Pentagon tendering processes, based on the merits of their products and services – without any assistance or intervention from the president’s family. Some said that their executives barely knew the Trump brothers or had met them only a few times. Many of the companies had secured contracts – including during the Biden administration – even before the two brothers invested in them. While it is true that the Trumps have expanded their family business beyond the property sector to include substantial holdings in cryptocurrencies and mining, the scale of their investments in military technology is less well known – and surprising, given that the sector relies on public funding and is significant in the context of rapidly evolving conflicts.

Together, SpaceX and Anduril account for 97 per cent of the direct government funding reported by the Washington Post and 42 per cent of the guaranteed future contractual options. Excluding these two giants from the analysis, a further 13 start-ups linked to the Trump brothers received nearly $1.8 billion in long-term federal commitments and $103 million in direct government funding under the Trump administration, following the brothers’ investment. Ten of the 15 companies surveyed already had business dealings with the government before the brothers’ investment, and eight already had contracts in place during the Biden administration. Five secured their first contracts after the brothers’ investment and whilst their father was already president. Neither Eric Trump nor Donald Jr., vice-presidents of the Trump Organisation who hold no official roles in the federal government, had any significant experience in the military technology sector before they began investing heavily in companies seeking contracts with the Pentagon and other federal agencies. Trump’s sons have described their investments in patriotic terms. Eric Trump said that the United States “must win” the race for artificial intelligence. Trump Jr. has repeatedly argued that the United States should develop an industrial base capable of mass-producing drones to counter potential threats from China. Officials at the White House and the Pentagon have stated that there is nothing inappropriate about the president’s sons investing in companies that benefit from business dealings with the federal government. “It is the same old narrative that the Democrats have been peddling against President Trump, his family and his Administration for a decade,” said Anna Kelly, a White House spokesperson, in a statement: “There are no conflicts of interest.”

A Pentagon spokesperson, Joel Valdez, stated in a note that “no company receives preferential treatment” and that “external affiliations, investors or political ties play absolutely no role in the department’s funding decisions”. However, some independent ethics observers, as well as Democratic members of Congress, argue that the business deals struck by Trump’s sons undermine public confidence in the procurement process and may allow the two brothers to profit from their privileged access to the country’s highest office. The brothers’ investments were made primarily through two companies in which they are involved: 1789 Capital and American Ventures.

Trump Jr. invests in military technology and in companies seeking contracts from the Pentagon through 1789 Capital, a venture capital firm which its partners describe as dedicated to "patriotic capitalism". 1789 has invested in 11 of the 15 defence, robotics and artificial intelligence companies that have business dealings with the Pentagon. Eric Trump’s main broker is American Ventures, a division of a boutique investment bank called Dominari Holdings. Headquartered in Trump Tower in New York, Dominari has become a key firm for the two brothers’ business dealings in cryptocurrencies, mining and defence, according to public documents and statements from Dominari itself. Elon Musk’s SpaceX is among the companies backed by 1789, as is the defence contractor Anduril. Other start-ups in which the firm has invested are less well known: Hadrian, which builds smart industrial facilities for the aerospace, defence and maritime sectors, recently secured a $900 million commitment from the Navy. Vulcan Elements, a three-year-old start-up producing rare-earth magnets, was awarded a $620 million loan from the Pentagon at the end of 2025. The company was given priority over other firms on the shortlist for funding (Vulcan stated that it had developed an ‘industry-leading’ defence capability and that it had ‘neither requested nor urged its investors to facilitate the Pentagon loan’). Some of these companies are linked. The drone manufacturer Unusual Machines was floated on the stock market by Dominari in early 2024, and Trump Jr. became a strategic adviser later that year. Unusual Machines’ chief executive, Allan Evans, said that Trump Jr.’s involvement had boosted the company’s profile and its share price. This year, Unusual Machines invested $30 million in Powerus, a Florida-based drone start-up in which American Ventures also holds a stake. The two brothers have invested in – or acted as advisers to – at least four drone manufacturers, all of which were awarded government contracts during the second Trump administration. Two of these already had business dealings with the government prior to the Trump brothers’ investment.

The burgeoning US drone sector has benefited in particular from the President’s policies, including the Federal Communications Commission’s December directive to block the import of new Chinese drones, and a June 2025 executive order requiring federal agencies to accelerate the testing and commercialisation of US drone technology. The drone market is currently dominated by China. Investors and the companies surveyed are benefiting from a new Pentagon philosophy, which favours smaller, more agile weaponry and offers a fast track to government contracts for selected start-ups possessing technologies that the department intends to develop rapidly. This change of direction was already underway during the Biden administration, but has been accelerated by officials in the Trump administration. It is largely a response to the changing nature of warfare, as demonstrated by conflicts such as that between Russia and Ukraine, in which drones in particular have played an unprecedented role on the battlefield. Defence policy experts cite that conflict, as well as the ongoing instability in the Middle East, to argue for the need to bolster the United States’ domestic military production capacity.

Before the Trumps, other members of presidential families had worked in sectors whose fortunes were tied to government regulations or funding. Hunter Biden worked as a business consultant whilst his father was vice-president, and two of George H.W. Bush’s sons worked for oil companies whilst their father held that office. Nevertheless, the extent of the Trump family’s involvement in private activities set to benefit from federal decisions and policies poses unprecedented challenges. Former defence officials and policy experts have stated that the Pentagon, under the Trump administration, operates with less transparency when it comes to favouring the prospects of certain companies. At an investment conference last year, Donald Jr. described his involvement in Defence Department decisions, saying he had “helped shape some of the department’s messaging”. On his podcast, he recounted that, whilst assisting Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth with personnel decisions, he sought out candidates willing to spend more on drones. “Although not buying drones from China is in the public interest, it is entirely legitimate to question whether this remains the case when the Trump family stands to gain financially,” says Kathleen Clark, a lawyer specialising in government ethics and a lecturer at Washington University School of Law. Although Clark made it clear that she is not in favour of a law prohibiting the president’s family members from doing business with companies seeking government contracts – because in practice it would be difficult to draw a clear line, given the number of companies vying for contracts – she believes the two brothers should refrain from this type of activity. She added that the Trump brothers’ investments in military technology must be viewed within the broader context of the dismantling of oversight mechanisms and anti-corruption standards within the executive branch, which took place during Trump’s second term: “It would be entirely understandable if a decision-maker within the federal government, under ‘Trump 2.0’, were to consider it dangerous to act against the financial interests of the Trump family.”

A few days after his father’s election victory for a second term, Trump Jr. announced that he had joined 1789 Capital, based in Palm Beach, Florida, as a partner. The company is controlled by Chris Buskirk, a leading strategist for Vice-President J. D. Vance, and by Omeed Malik, a Trump backer (right-wing financier Rebekah Mercer is also among the co-founders). Malik and Buskirk are close friends of Donald Jr., and Malik had already been investing alongside him for several years in the right-wing technology platform Rumble and in other companies that the pair describe as part of an ‘anti-woke’ economy. In 2020, the two wrote an editorial in the conservative Daily Caller, in which they urged US companies to do more to counter China’s economic influence. The partners at 1789 describe their investment philosophy as a form of patriotic capitalism faithful to the principles of ‘America First’, including the revitalisation of the US industrial base and support for companies that undermine China’s advantage in key sectors of the supply chain. The firm “realised before others that the geopolitical landscape and the international system were changing”, said a person familiar with the thinking of 1789’s partners: “The United States would have to reindustrialise and strengthen its defence base.” The fact that this vision is now, in effect, national policy “does not mean it is corruption”, added the same person.

Since Donald Jr. joined the company, this relatively little-known firm has seen a surge of interest from investors, raising around $3 billion in assets under management, according to a person familiar with the company’s affairs. This has enabled it to write substantial cheques for companies on the verge of going public. 1789 acquired significant stakes in SpaceX and Cerebras in late 2025, less than a year before their respective record-breaking IPOs, according to public documents. “There are no conflicts of interest at 1789 – where no one has ever served in government – unlike the clear conflicts faced by senior Democratic figures, who have specifically capitalised on their government experience,” said Chandler Costello, a spokesperson for 1789 Capital. “Where was all this outrage when conflicts of interest were rife among these top-level Democratic figures?” Another person familiar with 1789 Capital said that Trump Jr. does not sit on the firm’s investment committee, meaning he has no formal role in investment decisions: “Donald has no relationship with the federal government in connection with his role in any of the companies in which he invests or for which he acts as an adviser,” said Andy Surabian, a spokesperson for Donald Jr. The Trump Organisation, Dominari Holdings and American Ventures did not respond to requests for comment.

Eric Trump has stated that he is one of many passive investors in American Ventures. He compared his passion for the defence sector to that for cryptocurrencies. “I threw myself into cryptocurrencies in a big way because we had to win that digital revolution,” he said in an interview with Fox News in April. He added: “We have to win the robotics race in the United States of America.” The contracts, as well as the loans and other opportunities identified by the Washington Post, are concentrated primarily within the Department of Defence – including the Air Force, the Navy and DARPA, the Pentagon’s research agency – but also involve the Department of Commerce and other agencies. As well as holding stakes in major military technology firms, the Trump brothers have also invested in smaller defence start-ups gaining traction within the Pentagon. Evans, the chief executive of Unusual Machines, said that when he was introduced to Donald Jr. in 2024, after Dominari had taken his company public, it was by no means a foregone conclusion that Trump would become president. But as the head of a small, little-known drone company, Evans said he was delighted when Dominari’s chief executive, Kyle Wool, persuaded Donald Jr. to invest. The Trump scion’s celebrity status and his stance on issues such as bringing manufacturing jobs back to the United States proved to be an effective way of attracting attention and finding investors “who really believed in what we were doing”, he said. “Donald Trump Jr. had a very strong following and brand associated with the revival of domestic manufacturing, with ‘Made in America’,” said Evans: “He had a very strong following.”

When Trump Jr. announced, just a few days after his father’s election, that he had become an investor and adviser to the company, the share price doubled. The following year, the Army placed a $12.8 million order for drone components, and the Trump Administration banned imports of new Chinese drones, boosting the entire market. Evans said the company is now in talks for an expedited loan with the Pentagon’s Office of Strategic Capital. Evans says he has no idea whether Donald Jr. played a role in the company’s recent string of successes, and that he has never asked him for favours. He added that the company has only indirect business dealings with the Pentagon, and that Trump’s ban on Chinese drone imports was the result of a law passed towards the end of the Biden administration. Trump Jr., he said, “simply saw the wave and rode it”. However, he sees nothing wrong with Trump’s son using his influence to help the company. “Do you think people know who we are – perhaps at the top or in other circles – because of this affiliation, or because he’s an investor and is enthusiastic about the reindustrialisation we’re carrying out in Florida? You know, I hope he talks about us all the time, to everyone,” said Evans. “What’s the problem, if we’re not asking for anything, he’s not putting any pressure on anyone, and we don’t have any direct contracts with the government?”

SpaceX, Aeon Industrial, Databricks, Firehawk Aerospace, Foundation Future Industries, Axiom Space, Anduril, Cerebras and Hadrian have not provided any comment for this article, or have not provided official comments. Not all of the two brothers’ investments are in companies that manufacture weapons. 1789, for example, has also funded technology companies that provide other services – not directly related to the battlefield – to military and civilian agencies of the federal government. One such company is PsiQuantum, a quantum computing firm based in Palo Alto, California, which Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer has praised for its work with the Air Force Research Laboratory in New York State. Having secured contracts under both the Biden and Trump administrations, PsiQuantum announced in September 2025 that 1789 had invested in the company as part of a $1 billion funding round that also involved other investors. In May this year, the Department of Commerce announced a letter of intent to provide PsiQuantum with $100 million in federal incentives, with the government taking a minority stake in the company without control. A spokesperson for PsiQuantum said that 1789 is just one of many minority investors and plays no role in the company’s operational activities. “PsiQuantum has been awarded contracts for various US government initiatives over many years and under several administrations,” said the spokesperson.

Another company in which 1789 has invested, Perplexity AI, has secured federal contracts worth at least $1.6 million since autumn 2025, for the use of its products by employees across the government. A spokesperson for Perplexity declined to answer questions about Trump Jr. or 1789 Capital, stating that the company does not discuss its investors, but pointed out that many prominent companies use Perplexity, as do local and state authorities, and that its security features have made it popular with federal agencies.

The Trump brothers have been involved in the stock market flotation of several early-stage military technology start-ups, via the investment bank Dominari, using what are known as reverse mergers – a financial strategy against which regulators have issued warnings. The Securities and Exchange Commission has described this strategy, which creates low-value shares known as microcaps, as “among the riskiest” for small investors. Dominari recently merged Powerus with Aureus Greenway Holdings, a Florida-based company that manages golf courses, and is in the process of listing the merged company on the stock market. Another company that Dominari is taking public this summer, the Florida-based drone manufacturer XTEND, was attracted by Dominari’s strategy of rapidly listing small companies, as this has enabled it to embark on international expansion. With a $150 million investment from American Ventures, in addition to the capital raised through the IPO, XTEND could open offices in several countries that are seeking to build their own drone fleets in response to the conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine, CEO Aviv Shapira told the Washington Post. This summer, the Pentagon announced that XTEND was making headway in the prestigious competition for dominance in the drone sector. The company had already announced a multi-million contract with the Department of Defence three months before the Trump brothers’ investment. Shapira, an Israeli missile scientist and entrepreneur whose drones are used by the Israeli Defence Forces, said the criteria for the Pentagon’s competition are extremely strict, “like a Swiss watch”. He said he had never asked Eric Trump for any help, and that the idea that the Trump brothers could influence such a rigorous process “has nothing to do with reality”. Eric Trump, Shapira said, is not a direct investor in his company. He is a passive investor in American Ventures, and a “fantastic bloke” whom Shapira says he has met only a few times, during the start-up’s presentation to Eric Trump and some partners at American Ventures. “I don’t talk to him about business,” said Shapira, adding that Eric is passionate about the drone industry. “He flies drones better than anyone else I’ve seen,” he said. “He really is an excellent pilot.”