Trump sons’ investments have won billions in Pentagon contracts since his election

President Donald Trump announced a $6.6 billion investment with AI defense company Anduril Industries on Tuesday -- the most recent government funding agreement into a company with investment ties to the president's sons. 

The Trump administration announced the Navy will support $2.9 billion of the total cost to help create a new facility in Baltimore County, Maryland, that will manufacture critical parts for the Virginia-class nuclear-powered fast-attack submarine. 

"In a tremendous victory for our country and for the city of Baltimore, Anduril is investing $3.7 billion in a state-of-the-art shipyard that will be known forever as Arsenal-2," Trump said at an event announcing the investment.

"Right here in Sparrows Point, you'll build the next generation of American submarines, including autonomous subs, torpedo tubes, and critical components for our cutting edge Virginia-class attack submarines," Trump said.

1789 Capital -- a venture capital firm that lists Donald Trump Jr. as one of six partners along with three founders -- claimed a major stake in Anduril in June 2025 from a $2.5 billion investment into the company.  

Since that investment, Anduril has been awarded 135 other contracts with the U.S. government and to date has received around $1.8 billion from those agreements, according to active defense contracts posted to SAM.gov, the official system for government contracting. 

Anduril did not respond for comment on its contracts or investments from 1789 Capital, though the company has been awarded contracts dating back to 2019, according to USASpending.gov.

The company is one of the largest manufacturers to receive an investment from Donald Trump Jr. and his brother Eric Trump, but they are not the only one.

An ABC News analysis found defense companies backed by the president's sons, including Anduril, have now raked in more than $6 billion dollars in active or promised government contracts since those investments were made, according to the government's official contract reporting. 

This comes as Congressional Oversight Democrats continue to demand the Pentagon's inspector general investigate the approved deals. 

"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 over DoD," Sens. Richard Blumenthal, Elizabeth Warren, Robert Garcia and Tammy Duckworth wrote in a letter to Platte B. Moring, III, the Pentagon's inspector general, in May. 

A spokesperson for the Trump brothers denied any wrongdoing. 

"Don and Eric are experienced business leaders who have built and invested in businesses across a wide range of industries for decades, long before their father first ran for public office. 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. Attempts to portray their ordinary investment activities as improper are a deliberate distortion of the facts," the spokesperson said.

The White House declined to comment.

Drone investments

Shortly after Trump won the presidency, Donald Trump Jr. was named an adviser for Florida-based drone manufacturer Unusual Machines -- a company which had not previously won any government contracts. 

In October 2025, Unusual Machines scored a direct U.S. Dept. of Defense agreement for 3,500 orders of National Defense Authorization Act-compliant motors, with a potential order of 20,000 on the way in 2026. 

The Trump brothers are also listed as "notable investors" for the U.S. drone company Powerus, the company announced in March 2026. 

Despite not having any government contracts previously, Powerurs won its first Air Force purchase order just one month later for an undisclosed amount.  

In July, Powerus was awarded up to $90 million for aerial-denial unmanned aircraft systems from the U.S. Air Force.

ABC News asked Powerus if it was concerned at all about the involvement of the Trump brothers in the company, given its active contracts. 

"Defense procurement is merit-based. You can't sell the government something that won't protect a soldier, and nobody in the procurement chain risks their career routing a contract to a company whose equipment doesn't work," a spokesperson for Powerus said. 

"Neither Donald Trump Jr. nor Eric Trump is an advisor to Powerus, and neither is involved in the company's day-to-day business," the spokesperson continued. "Their interest is indirect, held through American Ventures, an investor in the company."

Manufacturing investments

Trump-linked investments extend into the manufacturing industry, with the brothers combining for more than $1 billion across companies in mining, quantum computing and aerospace. 

Oversight Democrats in their letter to the DoD criticized Donald Trump Jr.'s portfolio in raw materials, citing an August 2025 investment into Vulcan Elements, a rare-earth mining company harvesting critical materials for defense manufacturing. 

That same month, the Office of Strategic Capital loaned Vulcan Elements $620 million to expand its operation.

Vulcan Elements did not respond for comment when asked about these contracts and the investments from 1789 Capital. 

The firm also invested $60 million in Texas-based Firehawk Aerospace, according to firm portfolios provided by PitchBook. In the same month, Firehawk won a $4.9 million Air Force contract to "Advance Hybrid Rocket Engine Development," according to a company press release. 

Firehawk would later secure tens of millions more -- $3.2 million in May 2026, an undisclosed "multimillion-dollar" contract with the Air Force Research Laboratory in July and $24 million in Dept. of Defense munitions contracts in August, according to company press releases and active contracts.

Firehawk Aerospace has been awarded government contracts across both the Biden and Trump administrations since the company's founding in 2019. 

In a statement to ABC News, Firehawk said its award is "solely the product of engineering expertise and capacity." 

"We value the many investors who back that mission and share our conviction that the Nation's arsenal must be built to last. Our focus is the duty in front of us, making the arsenal of the U.S. and our allies stronger," a Firehawk spokesperson said. 

ABC News also found 1789 Capital raised $1 billion in revenue generation for California-based PsiQuantum in September of last year, with the company's pre-existing contract with DoD expanding by more than $157 million since then, according to SAM.gov.

PsiQuantum also signed a $100 million letter of intent with the Department of Commerce and another $125 million with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in May and July of 2026. 

PsiQuantum did not respond when asked for comment on these investments. 

Automation investments

Trump-linked investments were found in the automation sector. 

Eric Trump said he was named chief strategy adviser for Foundation Future Industries, a humanoid robot startup with the stated aim to develop autonomous soldiers and workers.  

Eric Trump touted a $24 million contract in April -- the company's first -- according to Eric Trump and CEO Sankaet Pathal's statements on Fox News. Pathal did not respond for comment on this contract or on Trump's involvement with the company's operations. 

ABC News found a $391 million 1789 Capital investment into Hadrian -- a highly automated, AI-driven manufacturing company -- in the early days of 2026.

The company won its first public contracts a few months later in March -- a $39.2 million agreement with the Army for machinery and manufacturing and a $900 million deal with the Navy to create highly automated submarine factories. 

Hadrian did not respond for comment when asked about these contracts.

Congressional Democrats continue to sound the alarm over these investments, referring ABC News to their May demand to the Department of Defense to launch an investigation into the president's family. 

"We hope that your office will take seriously these latest concerns about corruption in the DoD award process and fulfill your statutory responsibility by initiating a review," the senators wrote in their letter. 

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