Trump’s sons invest heavily in defense tech as father’s administration pours money in

Most investments by funds linked to Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump have taken place since their father’s reelection.

President Donald Trump’s sons Donald Trump Jr., left, and Eric Trump arrive at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on July 1. (Finn Gomez/Getty Images)

July 13, 2026 at 5:00 a.m. EDTToday at 5:00 a.m. EDT

President Donald Trump’s sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump have amassed a portfolio of defense technology start-ups that are benefiting from new Pentagon priorities and spending, further entangling the United States’ interests and the Trump family’s financial fortunes in an area with immense stakes for national security.

As the current administration has made modernizing the tools of warfighting a centerpiece of its national security agenda, funds linked to the Trump brothers have invested in more than a dozen defense tech companies and other firms seeking businesses from the Pentagon and federal agencies, a Washington Post analysis finds, based on public federal contracting databases and news releases as well as data from PitchBook, a venture capital research database.

Most of the investments have taken place since Trump was elected president for a second time. The companies have collectively generated at least $3.2 billion in direct government business since the sons invested and an additional $3.1 billion in future contract options. Some have gained coveted spots on shortlists of preapproved contractors that can bid exclusively on up to nearly $200 billion in future work.

The Trump sons are part of investment groups that have poured money into established government contractors, such as SpaceX and Anduril, as well as lesser-known start-ups aspiring to build a new generation of nimble, tech-forward weaponry — from drones to humanoid robots that can either mow a lawn or use deadly force. Most of the firms are in the defense industry, but some focus on products not meant for the battlefield: One company is partnering with the luxury fashion label Prada to design spacesuits, and another is trying to build quantum computers.

Company representatives who responded to The Post’s requests for comment stated that the companies had secured their business with the federal government through rigorous Pentagon contracting processes, based on the merits of their products and services — and without assistance or intervention from the president’s family. Some said their executives barely knew the Trump brothers or had interacted with them only a handful of times. Many of the companies were awarded contracts — including under the Biden administration — before the sons invested in them.

While the Trumps have expanded their family business holdings beyond real estate, including large stakes in cryptocurrency and mining ventures, the extent of their holdings in defense tech is less known — and striking, given the sector’s reliance on government funding and its importance as the nature of 21st-century warfare rapidly evolves.

Together, SpaceX and Anduril account for 97 percent of the direct government cash in The Post’s tally and 42 percent of the guaranteed future contract options. Excluding those behemoths from the analysis, 13 other start-ups tied to the Trump brothers still have captured nearly $1.8 billion in long-term federal commitments and $103 million in direct cash under the Trump administration after the brothers invested.

Ten of the 15 companies tallied by The Post had government business before the sons invested, and eight had contracts during the Biden administration. Five got their first contracts after the sons invested and while their father was president.

Neither Eric Trump nor Trump Jr., vice presidents at the Trump Organization who do not hold official roles in the federal government, had notable experience in the defense tech industry before they began investing heavily in companies seeking Pentagon and other federal contracts.

Trump’s sons have described their investments in patriotic terms. Eric Trump has said the U.S. “better be winning” the AI race. Trump Jr. has repeatedly argued that the U.S. should be developing an industrial base that can crank out drones to meet potential threats from China. “He has actively campaigned for a decade on the threat from China, so it’s not a new thing,” said a person close to his thinking, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to candidly discuss personal conversations.

White House and Pentagon officials said there was nothing inappropriate about the president’s sons investing in companies that benefit from business with the federal government.

“This is the same, tired narrative that Democrats have pushed against President Trump, his family, and his administration for a decade,” Anna Kelly, a White House spokeswoman, said in a statement. “There are no conflicts of interest.”

A Pentagon spokesperson, Joel Valdez, said in a statement that “no company receives preferential treatment” and that “outside affiliations, investors, or political connections play absolutely no role in the department’s funding decisions.”

But some ethics watchdogs, and congressional Democrats, say the dealmaking by Trump’s sons undermines public confidence in the contracting process and may be enabling the brothers to profit from their close access to the country’s highest office.

Foundation Future

Industries

Foundation Future

Industries

Foundation Future Industries

The brothers’ investments have come primarily through two firms in which they are involved: 1789 Capital and American Ventures.

Trump Jr. is invested in defense tech and in companies seeking Pentagon business through 1789 Capital, a venture firm dedicated to what its partners have called “patriotic capitalism.” 1789 has invested in 11 of the 15 defense, robotics and AI companies that have Pentagon business, according to the Post analysis.

Eric Trump’s primary dealmaker is American Ventures, a branch of a boutique investment bank called Dominari Holdings. Located in Trump Tower in New York, Dominari has become a key firm for the sons’ cryptocurrency, mining and defense deals, according to public records and statements by Dominari.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is among the companies backed by 1789, as is the defense contractor Anduril. Other start-ups in which the firm has invested are less well-known: Hadrian, which builds smart factories for aerospace, defense and maritime equipment, recently received a $900 million commitment from the Navy.

Vulcan Elements, a three-year-old start-up that manufactures rare earth magnets, was awarded a $620 million Pentagon loan in late 2025. The company was prioritized for a loan over other companies that had been in line for financing. (Vulcan said it has developed an “industry-leading” defense function and “did not ask or solicit its investors to facilitate the Pentagon loan.”)

Some of the companies are connected to one another. Drone maker Unusual Machines was taken public by Dominari in early 2024, and Trump Jr. became a strategic adviser later that year. Unusual Machines CEO Allan Evans told The Post that Trump Jr.’s involvement boosted the company’s visibility and stock price. This year, Unusual Machines invested $30 million in Powerus, a Florida drone start-up that American Ventures also invests in.

The brothers have invested in or advised at least four drone makers — all of which have been awarded government business during the second Trump administration, according to the Post analysis. Two of those did business with the government before the Trump brothers invested.

The nascent U.S. drone industry in particular has benefited from the president’s policies, including the December Federal Communications Commission directive to halt the importing of new Chinese drones and an executive order in June 2025 ordering federal agencies to accelerate the testing and commercialization of U.S.-made drone technology. The drone market is currently dominated by China.

The investors and the companies in The Post’s tally are getting a boost from a new Pentagon ethos that prioritizes smaller, nimbler weaponry and offers a fast track to government business for chosen start-ups that have technology the department is seeking to accelerate.

The shift was well underway during the Biden administration but has been turbocharged by Trump administration officials. It is largely a response to the changing nature of warfare, as evident in foreign conflicts such as Russia’s war with Ukraine, in which drones in particular have played an unprecedented role on the battlefield. Defense policy experts point to that war, as well as ongoing instability in the Middle East, to argue for ramping up the United States’ domestic capacity to produce military hardware.

Before the Trumps, presidential family members have worked in industries with fates tied to regulation or government funding. Hunter Biden worked as a corporate consultant when his father was vice president, and two of George H.W. Bush’s sons worked for oil companies while their father served in that office.

Nevertheless, some ethics experts say the sheer scope of the Trump family’s involvement with private businesses standing to benefit from federal decisions and policymaking poses novel ethical challenges. Former defense officials and policy experts have said the Pentagon under the Trump administration is acting with less transparency when it comes to advancing the prospects of certain companies.

At an investment conference last year, Trump Jr. described his involvement in Defense Department decisions, saying he “helped craft some of [the 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.

“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,” said Kathleen Clark, a government ethics lawyer and professor at Washington University School of Law.

Though Clark said she isn’t in favor of a law banning presidential family members from engaging in business deals with companies that seek government contracts — in practice the line would be hard to draw because so many different companies seek contracts, she said — she believes the sons should recuse themselves from such business.

She said that Trump brothers’ ventures in defense tech must be viewed in the context of the broader dismantling of oversight processes and anti-corruption standards in the executive branch that has occurred in Trump’s second term. “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,” she said.

Within days of his father winning the presidency for a second time, Trump Jr. announced he was joining 1789 Capital, based in Palm Beach, Florida, as a partner. The firm is controlled by Chris Buskirk, a key strategist for Vice President JD Vance, and Trump donor Omeed Malik. (Right-wing donor Rebekah Mercer is also a co-founder.) Malik and Buskirk are close friends of Trump Jr., and Malik had already been investing alongside him for several years, in the right-leaning tech platform Rumble and other companies that the men have referred to as forming an “anti-woke” economy, according to data from PitchBook and people familiar with the company’s dealings.

In 2020, the two wrote an op-ed in the conservative Daily Caller that urged U.S. companies to do more to combat the economic might of China. 1789 partners have described their investment philosophy as patriotic capitalism adhering to “America First” principles, such as bringing back the U.S. industrial base and supporting companies that undermine China’s edge in key supply chain areas.

The firm “understood earlier than other people that the geopolitical scene and the international system were changing,” said a person familiar with 1789 partners’ thinking, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the firm’s activities. “The United States was going to need to reindustrialize and build up its defense base.”

That this perspective is now effectively national policy “doesn’t mean it’s corruption,” the person said.

Since Trump Jr. joined, the relatively unknown firm has fielded a flood of interest from investors, garnering roughly $3 billion in capital under management, according to the person familiar with the firm. That has enabled it to write big checks to companies on the verge of going public. 1789 acquired sizable shares of SpaceX and Cerebras in late 2025, less than a year before both companies’ blockbuster public debuts, according to public filings.

“There are zero conflicts at 1789 — where no one has ever served in government — unlike the clear conflicts of top-level Democrats who have specifically monetized their government experience,” said Chandler Costello, a spokesman for 1789 Capital. “Where was all the hand-wringing when conflicts abounded for these most-senior-level Democrats?”

Ukrainian troops set up a drone at a training site in the Donetsk region in May. (Brendan Hoffman/For The Washington Post)

Another person familiar with 1789 Capital told The Post that Trump Jr. does not sit on the firm’s investment committee, meaning he has no formal role in investment decisions.

“Don does not interface with the Federal Government as part of his role with any company that he invests in or advises,” said Andy Surabian, a spokesman for Trump Jr.

The Trump Organization, Dominari Holdings and American Ventures did not respond to requests for comment. Eric Trump has said that he is one of several passive investors in American Ventures. He has compared his passion for the defense sector to his focus on cryptocurrency.

“I got involved with crypto in a very big way because we had to win that digital revolution,” he said in a Fox News interview in April. He added, “We have to win robotics in the United States of America.”

The contract awards, as well as loans and other opportunities identified by The Post, are mostly concentrated within the Defense Department, including the Air Force; the Navy; and DARPA, the Pentagon’s research arm, but they also span the Commerce Department and other agencies.

(The Washington Post)

Value of commitments after company investment

SpaceX

$2.1B

$1.2B

Satellites, space rockets, AI

Anduril*

$1B

$122.9M

Drones and other defense manufacturing

Hadrian*

$39.2M

$940.8M

AI-enabled component factories

Foundation Future Industries*

$24M

$0

Robotics humanoid robot

Databricks

$14.5M

$76.1M

Data and AI

Unusual Machines*

$12.8M

$0

Drone maker

Firehawk Aerospace*

$8.9M

$0

3D-printed rocket fuel

Perplexity AI

$1.6M

$6.5M

AI systems

Vulcan Elements*

$1.2M

$670M

Rare earths magnets

Aeon Industrial

$250.8K

$0

Missiles and autonomous targeting software

PsiQuantum*

$0

$100M

Quantum computing

*Includes values from public announcements

In addition to their holdings in marquee defense tech firms, the Trump brothers have also invested in smaller defense start-ups that are ascending within the Pentagon.

Evans, the Unusual Machines CEO, said that when he was introduced to Trump Jr. in 2024, after Dominari had taken his company public, it wasn’t at all clear that Trump would become president. But as the head of a little-known drone company, Evans said he was happy when Dominari CEO Kyle Wool encouraged Trump Jr. to invest. The Trump scion’s celebrity and public views on topics such as bringing manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. were an appealing way to drive attention and find retail investors “that would really believe in what we did,” he said.

“Donald Trump Jr. had a very strong on-shoring, made-in-America audience and brand,” Evans said. “He just had this really strong audience.”

When Trump Jr. announced he was becoming an investor and adviser to the company within days of his father’s election, the company’s stock price doubled. The following year, the Army placed a $12.8 million order for drone component purchases, and the Trump administration banned imports of new Chinese drones, helping the entire market. Evans has said the company is now in talks for a fast-tracked loan with the Pentagon’s Office of Strategic Capital.

Evans said that he had no idea if Trump Jr. had anything to do with the company’s recent string of successes and that he had never asked for any favors. He added that the company only had indirect business relationships with the Pentagon and that Trump’s banning of Chinese drone imports was the outcome of a law passed at the end of the Biden administration. Trump Jr., he said, “just saw the wave and hopped on it.”

But he didn’t see anything wrong with Trump’s son using his influence to help the company.

“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 and is excited about the reindustrialization we’re doing in Florida? You know, I hope he talks about us all the time to everyone,” Evans said. “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?”

SpaceX, Aeon Industrial, Databricks, Firehawk Aerospace, Foundation Future Industries, Axiom Space, Anduril, Cerebras and Hadrian either did not provide comment for this article or did not provide on-the-record comment for this article.

President Donald Trump and Eric Trump walk to Marine One on the White House South Lawn in April. (Al Drago/For The Washington Post)

Not all of the brothers’ investments are in companies that build weapons. 1789, for example, has also funded tech companies that provide other services, not directly tied to the battlefield, to the federal government’s military and civilian agencies.

One of them is PsiQuantum, a quantum computing company based in Palo Alto, California, that Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer has praised for its work with the Air Force Research Laboratory in Upstate New York. After winning contracts under both the Biden and Trump administrations, PsiQuantum in September 2025 announced an investment from 1789 as part of a $1 billion fundraising round that included other investors.

In May of this year, the U.S. Commerce Department announced a letter of intent for PsiQuantum to receive $100 million in federal incentives, with the government taking a minority, noncontrolling stake in the company.

A PsiQuantum spokesman said 1789 is one of many minority investors and has no involvement in the company’s operations. “PsiQuantum has won contracts for several U.S. government initiatives over many years and multiple administrations,” the spokesman said.

Another company that 1789 has invested in, Perplexity AI, has since fall 2025 been awarded federal business worth at least $1.6 million for the use of its products by employees throughout the government. A Perplexity spokesman declined to answer questions about Trump Jr. or 1789 Capital, saying the firm does not discuss its investors, but said that many prominent companies use Perplexity, as well as local and state governments, and that the security features it provides have made it popular at federal agencies.

The Trump brothers have been involved in taking several of the early-stage defense tech start-ups public through the Dominari investment bank, using what are known as reverse mergers and a financial strategy that regulators have warned against. The Securities and Exchange Commission has called that strategy, of creating low-value stocks called microcaps, as “among the most risky” for everyday investors.

Dominari recently merged Powerus with Aureus Greenway Holdings, a Florida golf course company, and is in the process of taking the merged company public.

Another company Dominari is taking public this summer, Florida drone maker XTEND, was drawn to Dominari’s strategy of quickly taking small companies public because it enabled the start-up to embark upon an international expansion. With a $150 million investment from American Ventures, plus the capital raised from going public, XTEND could set up shop in several countries that are trying to build their own drone fleets in response to the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, CEO Aviv Shapira told The Post.

This summer, the Pentagon announced that XTEND was moving forward in its prestigious drone dominance competition. The drone maker had announced a multimillion-dollar Defense Department contract three months before the Trump brothers’ investment.

Shapira, an Israeli rocket scientist and serial entrepreneur whose drones are deployed by the Israel Defense Forces, said the criteria for the Pentagon competition are highly stringent, “like a Swiss clock.” He said that he had never sought any help from Eric Trump 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 his direct investor. He is a passive investor within American Ventures and an “amazing guy” whom Shapira said he met a few times when pitching the start-up to Eric Trump and a handful of American Ventures partners. “I don’t talk to him about the business,” Shapira said, adding that Eric Trump is passionate about the drone industry. “He flies drones better than anyone I saw,” he said. “He’s a really good pilot.”

Ian Duncan contributed to this report.

Methodology

To analyze the financial footprint of companies backed by or linked to the Trump family, The Washington Post compiled a database of federal contracting activity from January 2016 through early July 2026.

Reporters used PitchBook investment records and public disclosures to identify the companies, and then used Unique Entity Identifiers, CAGE codes and legal parent entity names to cross-reference against federal procurement records on USAspending.gov.

To capture additional federal funding — because companies may operate as subcontractors or utilize Other Transaction Authorities and classified vehicles not detailed in USAspending — The Post compiled other award data from Pentagon announcements, agency press releases and corporate disclosures.

Public announcements of awards were counted as immediate funding unless explicitly designated as nonbinding. For multi-vendor umbrella contracts, the up-front funding was recorded as $0 and the maximum cap was treated as a shared pool, preventing competitive bidding rights from inflating a company’s guaranteed backlog.

To prevent double-counting, The Post separated guaranteed contract funding from large, shared agreements where companies must still compete for individual task orders. These multi-vendor contract ceilings — including a $151 billion Missile Defense Agency vehicle awarded collectively to four start-ups in the portfolio — were de-duplicated.