ABC News published a Pentagon-contract story about President Donald Trump’s two eldest sons, before its own report became the controversy. The Disney-owned network removed the article less than a day after publication and deleted the X post promoting it, initially offering no correction or explanation. Donald Trump Jr. and a spokesperson for 1789 Capital, where Trump Jr. is a partner, publicly attacked the reporting. ABC later published a revised version carrying an editor’s note that acknowledged multiple errors.
The dispute began Wednesday, October 7th, when ABC published a report headlined, “Trump sons’ investments have won billions in Pentagon contracts since his election.” It alleged that defense companies backed by Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump had obtained more than $6 billion in active or promised government contracts after the brothers’ investments. The story focused on Anduril Industries and 1789 Capital, where Trump Jr. is one of six partners, along with other companies associated with the brothers. The article ranged across drone, mining, quantum-computing, aerospace, and automation firms.
ABC promoted the story on X by declaring, “An ABC News analysis found defense companies backed by President Trump’s sons have now raked in more than $6 billion dollars in active or promised government contracts since those investments were made.” The story disappeared from ABC’s website Wednesday evening. Its promotional X post was also deleted, while the original URL led visitors to an error page. ABC initially left no editor’s note explaining whether the removal involved sourcing, accuracy, or legal concerns.
As Breitbart reported, CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski preserved a screenshot of the deleted post and called attention to the network’s silence. Kaczynski posted his criticism Friday after both items disappeared. “This is absolutely wild per Status — ABC News completely retracted this story like two days ago just totally nuked it,” Kaczynski wrote. “No note, no explanation, no comment. It had been shared by tons of top lawmakers and democratic officials.”
The sharpest challenge came from Alexa Henning, a spokesperson for 1789 Capital, who accused ABC of confusing the total size of a fundraising round with the amount invested by the firm. “Here’s a small lesson, that I also explained to ABC, the ‘reporter’ who is a complete idiot conflated raising funds with investment by 1789,” Henning wrote, according to Fox News. “Those are two separate actions.” Henning also said ABC failed to seek comment from 1789 Capital before publishing the original report and warned that lawyers could become involved.
Trump Jr. fired back after California Governor Gavin Newsom shared ABC’s original article on X. “ABC deleted this article in less than 24 hours because it’s false,” Trump Jr. wrote. “Sounds about as long as your presidential campaign would last.” The original ABC report also noted that some companies received federal contracts before the Trump sons’ investments, including Anduril, which had government business dating back to 2019.
By Friday evening, ABC published a revised version and acknowledged that the first report contained factual problems. “A version of this story published on Oct. 7 contained errors in the description of certain company investments, government contracts and event chronologies,” the editor’s note said. ABC added, “After subsequent reporting, this version contains corrected information and additional context regarding some of those investments, contracts and events.” The revised article’s byline was “ABC News.”
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The revised report dropped the original headline and didn’t repeat the claim that companies backed by the brothers had obtained more than $6 billion in active or promised government contracts. Instead, it was headlined, “New shipyard announced amid earlier Democratic concerns about potential conflicts of interest,” and centered on a $6.6 billion Anduril shipyard project in Maryland. ABC reported that 1789 Capital invested $50 million in Anduril as part of a larger $2.5 billion funding round and described its stake as relatively small. The network also said investment decisions are made by a three-person committee that does not include Trump Jr. A spokesperson for the brothers said they don’t seek to influence or participate in government procurement or awards. “Attempts to portray their ordinary investment activities as improper are a deliberate distortion of the facts,” the spokesperson said.
Criticism of ABC quickly spread on X after the report disappeared. Anduril founder Palmer Luckey wrote, “ABC News continues to lie, this time privately to their friends in the press. This was a coordinated influence operation planted by our competition, not ‘premature publication.’” Investor Bill Ackman responded, “This is bad. @ABC must take responsibility for their failed journalism. Basic journalistic ethics requires it. A quiet unexplained withdrawal of a false article does not constitute a proper error correction.” Powerus co-founder and president Brett Velicovich added, “Cover up indeed. They keep trying damage control, as shown by the ABC producer who contacted us at Powerus and STILL don’t even want to get the story accurate. This isn’t journalism anymore.”