Donald Trump Jr. has sparked controversy by rejecting comparisons between himself and Hunter Biden, despite both men facing scrutiny over potentially profiting from their fathers’ political positions.
In a social media post Tuesday evening, May 13, Trump Jr. defended his partnership role at 1789 Capital, writing: “The difference between me and Hunter Biden? I’ve been a businessman and serial investor my entire life. He became a ‘businessman’ after his dad got elected.” He claimed his venture capital firm “invests in private American companies—nothing to do with the government,” while accusing Hunter Biden of peddling influence to foreign entities.
However, a Business Insider investigation reveals that since joining 1789 Capital shortly after his father’s November re-election, Trump Jr.’s firm has rapidly expanded beyond its original “anti-woke” investment focus. Before Trump Jr. joined the Palm Beach-based firm, it had raised less than $200 million and primarily invested in Tucker Carlson’s media company. In the three months since President Trump took office, the fund has raised $500 million and aims to collect $1 billion by mid-2025, plus another $3 billion-plus next year.
The firm has obtained unusual access to major defense contractors that have subsequently received substantial government contracts. 1789 Capital has made an investment in SpaceX, the aerospace company led by Elon Musk, which was recently awarded a $5.9 billion contract from the U.S. Space Force to handle the deployment of vital national security payloads. The deal, announced April 4, makes SpaceX the Pentagon’s leading launch provider, surpassing competitors owned by Boeing and Lockheed.
Investment opportunities in companies like SpaceX are typically reserved for established firms with substantial assets. According to Business Insider, these investment opportunities are typically limited to well-funded insiders rather than small funds with no history of investing.
The Trump administration is also reportedly redirecting billions of taxpayer dollars to use SpaceX’s Starlink satellite system—and empowered Musk to redirect vast amounts of federal spending.
Other defense investments by 1789 Capital include Anduril, a defense technology firm that in February won a $22 billion contract to provide augmented reality goggles to soldiers, and Firehawk Aerospace, which is focused on supplying the military with 3D-printed rocket fuel. In April, Firehawk secured a $1.25 million military contract to analyze its manufacturing processes.
Scott Amey, general counsel at the Project on Government Oversight, expressed concerns about the ethical implications of such arrangements, questioning whether a fair and impartial environment could exist when the president’s son stands to gain, even indirectly, from these deals.
Laura Dickinson, a law professor at George Washington University and former special counsel for the Defense Department, expressed that the situation raised serious concerns about the appearance of corruption, as she noted that Trump’s family was benefiting.
Adding to the controversy, Trump Jr. and his partners have launched an exclusive club in Georgetown called the Executive Branch. With a $500,000 membership fee plus undisclosed annual dues, the club will connect business and tech leaders with Trump administration insiders. An unnamed associate familiar with Trump reportedly suggested to Business Insider that access to the president was being offered through less direct channels.
Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings became a focus of Republican investigations during the Biden administration. Hunter Biden served on the board of Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian natural gas producer, from 2014 until April 2019, and was a founding board member of BHR Partners, a Chinese investment company. He reportedly received $50,000 per month for his Burisma work, and from 2013 through 2018, Hunter Biden and his company brought in about $11 million via his roles with Burisma and his work with a Chinese businessman now accused of fraud, according to an NBC News analysis.
Hunter Biden maintained that his father was “personally uninvolved” in all of his business dealings, though Republican investigations attempted to establish connections between the two.
Trump Jr. concluded his social media defense bluntly: “Oh, and he’s also a felon and a crackhead and I’m not. Thanks for playing.”
Despite Trump Jr.’s insistence that his business has “nothing to do with the government,” critics note the substantial overlap between his firm’s investments and government contracts. The Trump associate told Business Insider that if Hunter Biden had opened such a club while Joe Biden was president, Republicans would be demanding not just severe consequences, but a complete and total dismemberment. The associate criticized the situation as “beyond hypocritical.”
