Tiny Red HandsBack

Trump's sons backed Powerus while the drone company sought Pentagon business

Date
2026-03-11
Entry type
family-linked-defense-bid
Current status
Powerus was seeking Pentagon drone work as of March 24; the senators asked whether any award existed
Last reviewed
2026-09-03

AP reported that Powerus raised $60 million, planned a reverse merger with a public golf-course company partly owned by Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, and was competing for Pentagon drone work. Powerus remained at the bid stage in the March 24 Senate inquiry.

Entities and roles

Relationships in this file

  1. Donald Trump Jr.reported Powerus investor through the AGH reverse-merger structurePowerus
  2. Eric Trumpreported Powerus investor through the AGH reverse-merger structurePowerus
  3. Powerusannounced reverse-merger counterpartAureus Greenway Holdings Inc.
  4. Powerusreported bidder for Pentagon drone-manufacturing businessU.S. Department of Defense
  5. Donald J. Trumpfather and son; son was a reported Powerus investor through AGHDonald Trump Jr.
  6. Donald J. Trumpfather and son; son was a reported Powerus investor through AGHEric Trump

Money trail

  1. commitmentPentagon armed-drone manufacturing program pool$1.1 billion
    Committed by / source
    U.S. Department of Defense
    committed · 2026-03-11 · observedPopulation Pentagon funding set aside for a domestic armed-drone manufacturing basePeriod 2026-03-11 to 2026-03-11Basis Associated Press reported the program-wide set-aside that Powerus hoped to compete for; neither AP nor the March 24 Senate letter identified a Powerus allocation.Limits Program-pool amount rather than company revenue; supplier allocations, award dates, and any Powerus share were not reported.Open cited evidence
  2. investmentPowerus investor financing reported by AP$60 million
    Investor / source
    Powerus financing-round investors
    Investment recipient
    Powerus
    realized · 2026-03-11 · observedPopulation Financing raised by Powerus for acquisitions and expansionPeriod 2026-03-11 to 2026-03-11Basis Associated Press reported the company-level financing total and stated that Powerus planned to use the capital for its acquisition program.Limits AP did not name every investor, allocate the financing between Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, or report a personal distribution to either son.Open cited evidence

Claims and evidence

  1. factreported

    Associated Press reported that Powerus was competing for Pentagon contracts and hoped to receive part of a $1.1 billion armed-drone manufacturing program; on March 24, Senators Warren and Blumenthal publicly sought confirmation of whether Powerus had received any Defense award.

  2. analysisreported

    Government-ethics scholar Kathleen Clark characterized the family-ownership and federal-bid arrangement as corruption and warned that government decision makers would feel pressure to use contract awards to enrich the president's family.

  3. factreported

    Associated Press reported that Powerus raised $60 million from investors and planned to enter public markets through a reverse merger with Aureus Greenway Holdings, a Nasdaq-listed golf-course company partly owned by Donald Trump's two oldest sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump.

  4. factdocumented

    On March 24, 2026, Senators Warren and Blumenthal asked Hegseth whether Powerus had received any Defense award, whether any competition occurred, whether Defense officials had communicated with Powerus or the Trump sons, and what guardrails addressed presidential-family conflicts.