Crooked Trump Hands a Defense Contract to a Company That Hires Don Jr. as an Advisor for Millions of Dollars

Oct 24, 2025

It is, unfortunately, pretty normal for the children and other relatives of presidents to make money from their proximity of power, but Donald Trump’s kids are doing it on an industrial scale. The Financial Times just reported that a big defense contract has been granted to an obscure firm that just happens to have paid Donald Trump Jr. millions as an “advisor.”

The New York Times describes the setup:

Unusual Machines gave Donald Trump Jr. 200,000 shares of its stock late last year in return for his help as an adviser. The shares are now worth about $2.6 million. Though officials at the company and the Pentagon say Mr. Trump’s son has not reached out to the Defense Department on their behalf, he has relationships with some high-level figures there. …
Don Jr., as he is broadly known, through these two defense contractors and others he is investing in, has become part of the famed Beltway military-industrial complex, even as his father is setting policy priorities that are likely to benefit the companies he has invested in. …
[T]he Army’s 101st Airborne Division announced it intended to buy 3,500 drone engines from Unusual Machines—its first major direct order from the Pentagon. The Army indicated it could order another 20,000 parts next year, even though the company started manufacturing its own drone motors in the United States only in recent weeks. …
Donald Trump Jr.’s stock holdings in Unusual Machines are just one example on a growing list of financial ties that Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, the president’s second son, have to companies that are selling products to the federal government or rely on it for regulatory approvals needed to increase their sales.

Corruption has a dual role in an authoritarian system, as both an end and a means. On the one hand, funneling money to insiders, and letting every business know they need to have a regime sponsor, is a tool for consolidating power. On the other hand, enriching insiders is one of the main reason the regime seeks power in the first place.

The Executive Watch is a project of the Institute for the Study of Modern Authoritarianism, and its flagship publication The UnPopulist, to track in an ongoing way the abuses of the power of the American presidency. It sorts these abuses into five categories: Personal Grift, Political Corruption, Presidential Retribution, Power Consolidation, and Policy Illegality. Click the category of interest to get an overview of all the abuses under it.

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