New shipyard announced amid earlier Democratic concerns about potential conflicts of interest
Donald Trump Jr. is not involved in investment decisions, firm says.
Editor’s Note: CORRECTION: A version of this story published on Oct. 7 contained errors in the description of certain company investments, government contracts and event chronologies. After subsequent reporting, this version contains corrected information and additional context regarding some of those investments, contracts and events.
President Donald Trump and defense contractor Anduril Industries earlier this week announced a $6.6 billion investment to create a state-of-the-art shipyard in Maryland to manufacture components for Virginia-class submarines.
While the project was welcomed by many, it comes amid concerns raised by Congressional Democrats about defense companies that have received investments from a venture capital firm where Donald Trump Jr. is a partner.
1789 Capital — which lists Donald Trump Jr. as one of six partners along with three founders – invested $50 million into Anduril Industries as part of a larger $2.5 billion funding round last year, according to the defense contractor's founder.
The investment, however, marked a relatively small stake in Anduril, which has been valued at over $60 billion. A spokesperson for 1789 Capital said that investment decisions at the fund are made by a three-person committee, which does not include Trump Jr.
“Don Jr. has no ability to decide any investments at this fund,” a spokesperson for 1789 Capital told ABC News.
But Congressional Democrats have argued that Anduril’s support from 1789 Capital is the latest example of Trump Jr.’s connection to companies whose success is tied to government contracts.
“With Don Jr.’s new leadership role, 1789 Capital has developed an uncanny ability to identify companies that are about to receive massive influxes of cash from the Trump Administration or to benefit from significant changes in federal policies and regulations. They say there is no such thing as a sure thing in investing, but this is about as close as you can get,” Rep. Jamie Raskin, the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, wrote in a letter to the company in August.
Attorneys for 1789 Capital have pushed back on that assertion and argued that “political association is not a substitute for evidence.”
“As you and your colleagues very well know, such associations are commonplace throughout the financial industry and across party lines, and their existence says nothing about the propriety of any particular investment or government action at issue here,” they wrote in a letter to Raskin last month.
A spokesperson for 1789 Capital added, “1789 Capital only takes minority stakes in private, well established American companies, alongside the world’s most prestigious asset managers.”
In a statement to ABC News, a Pentagon official said “no company receives preferential treatment.”
“The War Department always looks for solutions to benefit the warfighter, not any pre-selected entity. Outside affiliations, investors, or political connections play absolutely no role in the Department’s funding decisions,” the official said.
A spokesperson for Trump’s eldest sons defended their business activities, arguing that Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump “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.
In a January 2026 investor letter, Anduril said that it doubled its revenue in 2025. Anduril has won substantial government contracts under both Republican and Democratic administrations, according to federal contracting records.
In a social media post this week, Anduril’s founder, Palmer Luckey, said he doesn’t “think investment firms should refuse to invest their client's money into successful companies because one of the partners at the firm is related to a politician.”
In addition to Anduril, Congressional Democrats have raised concerns about a number of investments by 1789 Capital, including those into Firehawk Defense, Vulcan Elements, Hadrian and PsiQuantum.
In Rep. Raskin’s August letter to 1789 Capital, he called into question the firm’s investment in Vulcan Elements, a rare-earth mining company, months before it secured a $620 million loan from the Pentagon’s Office of Strategic Capital.
1789 Capital invested in the company during an August 2025 funding round, which brought in $65 million from a group of investors, according to a LinkedIn post by the company. Other investors in the funding round included Altimeter, One Investment Management, nvp capital and others.
“In the months ahead, Vulcan will supply magnets for every branch of the U.S. military, as well as leading American and allied technology companies,” the company said in a press release following the funding round last year.
Vulcan Elements did not respond to a request for comment from ABC News this week. Responding to reports in 2025, a spokesperson for Vulcan said that Trump Jr. had no involvement in contract negotiations.
A spokesperson for 1789 Capital said that the decision to invest in Vulcan Elements stemmed from their investment philosophy to strengthen domestic supply chains and reduce reliance on foreign countries.
1789 Capital also led a $60 million investment round for Texas-based Firehawk Aerospace last year, according to a company press release. The company listed a group of other venture capital firms as investors from that round, including Draper Associates, Decisive Point, Stellar Ventures and others.
“The round was led by 1789 Capital, marking the firm’s entry into defense technology and supporting Firehawk’s transition from R&D and prototyping to production at scale,” the company said in a press release in September 2025.
Firehawk Aerospace secured a "multimillion-dollar" contract with the Air Force Research Laboratory in July and a $24 million Dept. of Defense munitions contract this summer, according to company press releases.
“Firehawk was founded in 2019 and has been awarded government contracts across multiple administrations, based on our ability to deliver on time, on budget and on the quality of our work. That record is solely the product of engineering expertise and capacity," a Firehawk spokesperson told ABC News in a statement. "We value the 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 spokesperson for 1789 Capital said the firm began investing in Firehawk in 2023 during the Biden administration, predating the involvement of Donald Trump Jr.
1789 Capital was part of a $1 billion funding round for California-based PsiQuantum last September, according to a company press release. Other notable investors included Blackrock, NVIDIA’s venture capital arm, Morgan Stanley, and the Qatar Investment Authority.
PsiQuantum signed a $100 million letter of intent with the Department of Commerce in May, and $125 million agreement with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in July 2026.
In a statement to ABC News, a spokesperson for PsiQuantum said: "PsiQuantum is committed to effective and responsible partnerships with the U.S. government. Quantum computing draws from broad bipartisan support as a critical technology for American security and prosperity. The company's partnerships across the U.S. government have spanned multiple administrations, such as our participation in the most advanced stage of DARPA's rigorous Quantum Benchmarking Initiative. PsiQuantum has won contracts for several U.S. government initiatives over many years and multiple administrations, including programs administered by DARPA and the U.S. Air Force."
PsiQuantum's work with DARPA predates the Trump administration, according to a 2023 press release from DARPA.
1789 Capital is one of many minority investors in PsiQuantum and has no involvement in the company’s operations.
1789 Capital invested money in Hadrian -- an AI-driven manufacturing company – through two funding rounds over the last year, according to company press releases.
In March, Hadrian won a $39.2 million contract 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 to a request for comment from ABC News. According to federal contracting records, Hadrian worked on federal projects during the Biden administration.
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