Donald Trump‘s sons are facing corruption accusations after investing in a drone start-up competing for Pentagon contracts.
Don Jr. and Eric Trump have poured money into Powerus, a Florida-based defense start-up competing for Pentagon drone contracts, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The company, formed in 2025, is competing for a slice of the Pentagon’s $1.1 billion Drone Dominance initiative and is merging with a publicly traded golf company to list on the NASDAQ.
The Pentagon’s push to acquire its own drone fleet has been thrown into sharp focus by Iran‘s battlefield deployment of Shahed drones costing approximately $25,000 per unit, as the US burns through missile stockpiles priced at up to $13 million each.
The venture comes after the President declared foreign-made drones a national security threat in December.
The pair faced a fierce online backlash to the WSJ story, with Eric firing back that drones are ‘a much better investment’ than newspapers.
Left-wing pundit Ron Filipkowski said: ‘I happened to think the sons of the president shouldn’t profit personally from their daddy’s warmongering from taxpayer dollars.’
Liberal singer Bill Madden wrote: ‘Not only is this morally reprehensible, how can this possibly be legal?’
Don Jr. and Eric Trump are investing in Powerus, a Florida-based drone company that is competing for Pentagon contracts
Iranian-made Shahed drones cost a fraction of the price of the US interceptor missiles used to shoot them down. The Pentagon is looking to fund drones capable of disabling enemy drones and missiles
An Anduril Ghost X drone is carried by an US soldier at the Hohenfels Training Area in southern Germany on February 6, 2025. Drones, cheaper and more plentiful than in the past, are changing the face of warfare, particularly in Ukraine and Iran
Dominari Securities, an investment bank backed by the Trump brothers, is involved in financing the merger.
The controversy is the latest in a string of deals the Trump brothers have struck in the booming US drone sector, as the administration intensifies its focus on domestic manufacturing amid the war with Iran.
Eric invested in a merger between Israeli drone firm XTEND and a Florida-based construction company to bring the firm to public markets in February.
Last year, Unusual Machines, another Florida-based drone firm, appointed Don Jr. to its board.
Unusual Machines has won money from the Pentagon, including a contract for it to manufacture 3,500 drone motors and other parts.
Don Jr. purchased more than 331,000 shares of Unusual Machines, worth around $5.5 million on Monday, the Financial Times reported.
Chinese-made drones, particularly from tech giant DJI, have accounted for the majority of commercial drone sales in the US for the past decade.
The firm now faces a questionable future in US markets, given the administration’s latest ban on foreign-made drones.
The global drone race has prompted the US military to create new ways to counter the threat. Above a US military ship can be seen deploying a HELIOS anti-drone laser being used to shoot down incoming drones
The US has used drones, like the MX9 Reaper shown above, in operations for decades. However, the Pentagon is now racing to fund smaller, cheaper drone projects
Powerus drones are capable of intelligence surveillance and target acquisition, autonomous resupply, swarm coordination and more, according to its site.
They are also designed to help put out wildfires and for other civilian uses in the agriculture and oil and gas industries.
Specifically, the company touts drones that are capable of carrying up to 1,000 pounds.
Drones have become central to modern warfare since their widespread use during the Ukraine war, with Russia deploying Iran’s Shaheds.
The burgeoning sector has rapidly become one of most competitive in the defense industry, with Silicon Valley-backed startups such as Anduril, Shield AI and AeroVironment vying for contracts.
The US this month deployed suicide drones made by Arizona’s SpektreWorks against Iran.
The Low-Cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System, known as LUCAS, is modelled on Iran’s Shahed drones, US Central Command said.
Don Jr. and Eric have been contacted for comment.
