BOMBSHELL Don Jr scandal EXPOSED in explosive exposé

追加: 2026-05-30

[00:00:00]Even in a world where we are surrounded by a staggering amount of corruption, this latest bombshell from ProPublica is shocking. According to their new investigation, the White House intervened to push through a $620 million Pentagon loan to a company called Vulcan Elements. It's a small North Carolina startup. The request came from Peter Navaro, a top White House adviser and close personal friend of Don Jr. Of the dozens of companies that the Pentagon was considering at the time, Vulcans was the only deal initiated by a top adviser to the president. The Pentagon staff were told to move at an unusually rapid pace, working late nights with little sleep to rush it through in a matter of weeks. Here's how one source inside the building described the marching orders. Quote, "The call came from the White House. We have to get this done." So, now that you have that background, you'll want to hear this. About 3 months before that call was ever made, Don Jr.'s venture capital firm, 1789 Capital, quietly took an undisclosed stake in Vulcan Elements.

[00:00:56]And after the deal was announced, Vulcan's estimated valuation went from around $200 million at the time of that investment to around $2 billion. So, let's just make sure we're all on the same page here. Don Jr. quietly buys into a tiny startup. 3 months later, his dad's White House calls the Pentagon and tells them to make this deal happen now.

[00:01:18]The Pentagon staff pulls allnighters to push it through in weeks instead of months. the company's valuation increases by 10 times and everybody walks away acting like nothing happened.

[00:01:28]In fact, here's how the Pentagon responded when asked about it. Quote, "No company receives preferential treatment. Outside affiliations, investors, or political connections play absolutely no role in the department's funding decisions." Sure, absolutely.

[00:01:42]The call just happened to come from the White House for the one deal connected to the president's son among dozens of other companies that didn't get that phone call. Completely normal. Nothing to see here. But it's worth discussing the friendship between Navaro and Don Jr. since they're both insisting that they absolutely did not coordinate on any of this. Here's what their relationship looks like on the record.

[00:02:05]Don Jr. visited Navaro in prison while he was serving time for defying a congressional subpoena. Navaro dedicated his latest book to Don Jr. for having quote my back when it was against the wall. And just one week before the Vulcan deal was publicly announced, Don Jr. hosted Navaro on his streaming show and told his nearly 2 million subscribers to go buy Navaro's book. On camera, Don Jr. called Navaro my boy.

[00:02:27]Navaro called Don Jr. brother. So, these are two guys who visit each other in prison, hawk each other's books, and call each other brother on live streams.

[00:02:36]But sure, they definitely didn't have a quick chat about the $620 million deal that made Don Jr. a billionaire. Got it.

[00:02:44]And I want to be fair here. The GOP's defense on this is going to be that it's all about national security, rare earth minerals competing with China. And look, that is a real issue. Reducing dependence on China's supply chain is a genuine bipartisan concern. But none of that changes what this is. This is the first time in this administration that the awarding of a federal contract has been directly linked to a White House phone call on behalf of a company that the president's son is invested in. And as Richard Painter, the chief White House ethics lawyer under George W. Bush put it, "This is our money they're spending. This is corruption we pay for." Now, I need you to think back.

[00:03:21]Think way back to when Republicans spent approximately four years losing their minds over Hunter Biden.

[00:03:29]Congressional hearings, impeachment inquiries, subpoenas, and entire media ecosystem shrieking from the rooftops every single day.

[00:03:37]>> My constituents in New York 21 have many concerns about the fact that Hunter Biden, the son of the vice president, sat on the board of a corrupt company like Berisma.

[00:03:45]>> Obviously, just on the face of it, Ukraine and China are not doing business with Hunter Biden because he's such a great businessman with such expertise.

[00:03:53]The guy is a complete degenerate and the only reason they're working with him obviously is because of his last name.

[00:03:59]>> So the Ukrainian oligarch who owned Berisma, there was very substantial evidence of corruption on his part and he named Hunter Biden to his board of directors. And what was the cornerstone of all that manufactured outrage? Hunter Biden received $50,000 a month from Berisma, a Ukrainian energy company where he sat on the board. That's it.

[00:04:19]That was the scandal. a private company paying a private citizen to sit on their board. No government money, no Pentagon loans, no White House calls to federal agencies strongarmming a deal through.

[00:04:31]This is a private company paying a private citizen. Compare that to what we're looking at right now. The White House directly intervenes with the Pentagon on behalf of a company that the president's son is secretly invested in.

[00:04:44]The company's valuation jumps by nearly $2 billion as a result. And the Republican party, the same GOP that turned a laptop into a four-year cottage industry, has gone completely, utterly, totally silent. No hearings, no subpoenas, no wall-to-wall coverage on Fox. In fact, when Democrats in the House tried to subpoena Don Jr. to come testify about the Vulcan deal, Republicans blocked it. Here's what Oregon Representative Maxine Dexter said about that. Quote, "Donald Trump Jr.

[00:05:16]must be made to answer whether the president's son illegally profited from his father's presidency. Republicans said no. Blocked. Done. Moving on. So, just to recap, the Republican party's official position on presidential family corruption. Hunter Biden getting paid by a private company equals impeachable offense worthy of years of investigation and non-stop prime time coverage. But Donald Trump Jr. getting a $620 million taxpayerbacked loan rushed through to a company that he secretly invested in via a direct White House phone call to the Pentagon equals not even worth the conversation. Totally consistent, perfectly principled, just great stuff all around. And by the way, this Vulcan deal is just one chapter of this story.

[00:06:03]Also currently under Pentagon review for a loan is a company called Unusual Machines. That's a Florida drone parts manufacturer. Don Jr. sits on its advisory board and holds millions of dollars in shares. The Pentagon was already accused of cronyism last year when it gave unusual machines an army contract. So, this isn't even an isolated coincidence. This is a pattern, a business model. This is the Trump family using the levers of the US government, your government, funded by your tax dollars as a personal wealth generation machine. And here's what makes this so enraging. While regular Americans are watching their retirement accounts get wiped out, their grocery bills keep climbing, and their jobs disappear into a trade war that nobody asked for, all the while paying more money for gas than we've almost ever paid. The president's son is quietly buying into startups and then watching the White House make phone calls that turn those startups into billion-dollar companies. That is not the free market.

[00:06:59]That's not America first. It is textbook corruption happening in plain sight, in broad daylight. And the GOP isn't looking the other way. They are actively blocking every attempt to hold anyone accountable for it. They told you that Hunter Biden was disqualifying. They told you the Biden family was corrupt.

[00:07:15]They told you they were going to drain the swamp. And then they handed the keys to the entire federal government to a family that is using it to make themselves obscenely rich on your dime while you foot the bill.

[00:07:30]Before you go, I'm very excited to announce that I've written a new book titled The Day After: How to Wield Power in a PostTrump World. The book explores what is, in my opinion, the single most important theme that we're dealing with in politics today and moving forward.

[00:07:42]Power. Specifically, how Republicans abuse it and how Democrats refuse to wield it. This book explains how we got here and more importantly, how we should finally wield power if we're fortunate enough to get it back. It is the blueprint for progressives who want to do far more than just restore the status quo. Please pre-order today by visiting the link in the episode description or go to brianylcohen.com/book.

[00:08:05]You can grab yours from any of the major retailers like Amazon or Barnes & Noble, or find an independent bookstore closest to you that's also listed on that website. Thanks so much for supporting Independent Media.