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Trump Sons Accused of Trying to Profit Off Father’s Iran War With Drone Investment
"The most corrupt family ever is profiting from all of the death and destruction Trump is responsible for," said one critic.
Mar 09, 2026
There's no end in sight to President Donald Trump's unprovoked and unconstitutional war with Iran, and two of the president's children appear ready to cash in.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump are investing in a Florida-based drone company called Powerus that "is vying to meet fresh demand from the Pentagon" for drones that started when the Trump administration banned foreign-made drones and drone components from the US in December.
The company will soon be going public by merging with Aureus Greenway Holdings, a publicly traded golf-course holding company that is also backed by the Trumps, and is expected to make its debut on the Nasdaq stock exchange in the coming months.
"Investors in the deal include one of the Trumps’ investment vehicles, American Ventures," reported the Journal, "and Unusual Machines, a drone components company where Donald Trump Jr. is a shareholder and advisory board member... Powerus is also a customer of Unusual Machines."
In an interview with the Journal, Powerus CEO Andrew Fox predicted robust demand for his company's products, commenting that the drone market "is certainly going to grow faster than, say, golf courses are."
Eric Trump confirmed and defended his investment in the drone firm, replying to the Journal in a social media post that "I happen to believe drones will be a much better investment than companies that still print newspapers."
Many critics, however, accused the two eldest Trump sons of seeking to profit off a war started by their own father. As the New York Times reported on Saturday, drones have become "a defining feature" of the Iran war, as they have been used by both sides in the conflict to launch explosives at targets at a fraction of what traditional missile barrages would cost.
"Rushing to cash in on Daddy's failed war before they've even gotten Barron and Kai to enlist," wrote journalist Marcy Wheeler. "Truly deplorable behavior, but what we expect from these corrupt reprobates."
University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato argued that the Trump sons' efforts to rake in cash from the war shouldn't be surprising.
"Always a money-making angle for the Trump family," Sabato wrote. "Why should the War with Iran be any different?"
Sabato's words were echoed by fellow political scientist Norman Ornstein, who observed "it’s always about the grift" when it comes to the Trump family.
Melanie D'Arrigo, executive director of the Campaign for New York Health, argued that the Trump sons' drone investment should cast a pall across the entire Iran war venture.
"Reminder as Trump starts wars, sells weapons and bombs everyone," D'Arrigo wrote. "The Trump family has a military drone company with military contracts, currently vying to meet Pentagon demand after the Trump administration recently banned new Chinese drones. The most corrupt family ever is profiting from all of the death and destruction Trump is responsible for."
In 2025, at least two companies backed by Trump Jr. received contracts collectively worth hundreds of millions of dollars from the US Department of Defense.
Kedric Payne, general counsel at the Campaign Legal Center, said in an interview with the Financial Times last year that the government deals scored by Trump Jr.-backed companies look ethically dubious even if the president’s son didn’t directly use his influence to procure them.
“Presidents are expected to avoid even the appearance that they are using their office to financially benefit themselves or their family,” he said. “While we do not know for certain if, or how, the president may have influenced this loan, it falls under the cloud of conflicts of interest we have seen throughout this administration.”
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'Greatest Corruption in Presidential History': Trump Family Reaps $5 Billion More in Crypto Profits
"Your family gets higher energy prices and cuts to healthcare. His family gets billions," said Rep. Greg Casar.
Sep 03, 2025
In what Public Citizen called "the greatest corruption in presidential history," US President Donald Trump and his family added $5 billion in cash to their fortunes this Labor Day as his new cryptocurrency was opened to the public market.
The currency, known as WLFI, is owned by World Liberty Financial, a company founded by the president's sons, Donald Trump, Jr., and Eric Trump. A Trump business entity owns 60% of the company and is entitled to 75% of the revenue from coin sales.
As the Wall Street Journal reported Monday:
The trading debut was most likely the biggest financial success for the president's family since the inauguration...
WLFI is likely now the Trumps' most valuable asset, exceeding their decades-old property portfolio. While the president's family has continued to pursue property deals around the world since taking office, the fast-moving crypto business has had the biggest early impact.
Crypto is now the dominant source of Trump's wealth. As an investigation by the anti-corruption group Accountable.US found last month, "President Trump's net worth could roughly be $15.9 billion, with about $11.6 billion in uncounted crypto assets," meaning that the digital currencies now make up 73% of his total net worth.
In addition to the tokens owned by World Liberty Financial, it found that two Trump-affiliated companies owned 80% of the $TRUMP meme coin as of May and had collected over $324 million in fees since Trump took office in January.
Meanwhile, Trump Media, which owns his online platform Truth Social, bought $2 billion worth of Bitcoin in July and reserved another $300 million in Bitcoin options.
As America's self-proclaimed "first crypto president," Trump has sought to curb regulations against the volatile financial assets.
In July, Trump signed the GENIUS Act, which purports to establish the US's first regulatory framework for crypto. However, critics noted that the law designated so-called "stablecoins," of which Trump owns many, as "commodities" rather than "securities," allowing them to face much looser oversight.
Though the bill passed with support from over 100 Democrats, Rep. Maxine Waters (Calif.), the ranking Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, warned that the bill "legitimizes Trump actively building the most corrupt self-dealing crypto environment this country has ever seen."
Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) described Trump's latest $5 billion windfall as "blatantly corrupt and a brazen abuse of power."
"The current occupant of the White House," she said, "is putting personal profit above the people, using his power to illegally line the pockets of his family and billionaire friends while hanging everyday families out to dry by ripping away their healthcare, food assistance, raising the cost of consumer goods, gutting the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and more."
While cryptocurrency is often billed as an asset available to everyone that levels the playing field of the finance world, in practice, its ownership is largely concentrated among the wealthiest Americans. According to a Harris poll published in April, nearly half of all crypto owners have a yearly income of over $150,000, putting them in the wealthiest 10% of the country.
"Your family gets higher energy prices and cuts to healthcare. [Trump's] family gets billions," said Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas), the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. "Corruption, plain and simple."
Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash), a strong advocate for crypto regulation, said that such blatant profiting from the presidency makes Trump "easily the most corrupt president in our country's history," and emphasized that "Republicans in Congress are not lifting a single finger to exercise basic oversight."
According to data from OpenSecrets, just three crypto industry-backed political action committees (PACs) poured over $133 million into the 2024 election. Though they spent the majority of that money supporting Republicans, nearly 40% of it went to Democrats.
But although all this money helped to buy what Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong called "America's most pro-crypto Congress ever," according to Reuters, just 3% of legislators in the US House of Representatives and Senate own these assets themselves, including Sens. Dave McCormick (R-Pa.) and Tim Sheehy (R-Mon.), as well as Reps. Nick Begich (R-Ark.) and Mike Collins (R-Ga.).
But Trump's profiteering far exceeds the crypto holdings of every congressperson put together.
"We have only seen the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the damage that this corruption will inflict on the American people," said Bartlett Naylor, a financial reform advocate with Public Citizen. "The impact of attempts by the Trump family and others to buy and sell politics and politicians will continue to ricochet."
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Gold Phone and Mobile Service Blasted as Latest 'Trump Family Profiteering'
"Good luck getting a federal agency to hold the company accountable if service fails or things go off the rails," said one critic.
Jun 16, 2025
The Trump Organization on Monday announced the creation of a new cellular phone service named after U.S. President Donald Trump and teased the upcoming release of a gold, $499 smartphone—news that elicited swift rebuke from two watchdog groups.
"The limit to Trump family profiteering does not exist," wrote the group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington in response to Eric Trump discussing the update on Fox Business Network on Monday.
The new wireless service, called "Trump Mobile," advertises a $47.45 a month plan, and will operate as a licensing agreement.
"Trump Mobile, its products and services are not designed, developed, manufactured, distributed, or sold by the Trump Organization or any of their respective affiliates or principals," according to a Monday statement from the Trump Organization, which is headed by the president's sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. "T1 Mobile LLC uses the 'Trump' name and trademark pursuant to the terms of a limited license agreement which may be terminated or revoked according to its terms."
According to that same statement, Trump Mobile will offer 5G service in partnership with existing major cellular carriers. It will also offer unlimited talk and text and other benefits, and subscribers to the plan will receive "telehealth services, including virtual medical care, mental health support, and easy ordering and delivery for prescription medications."
In addition to the new wireless service, a gold-colored "T1" smartphone will be available starting September, according to the Trump Mobile website.
"It seems utterly unfathomable that you could build a phone with this set of specs, at this price, to be delivered in September," remarked David Pierce, editor-at-large at The Verge.
The new wireless phone service is one of several products featuring the Trump name, including the $TRUMP meme coin.
Trump reported over $600 million in income stemming from a variety of ventures, including cryptocurrency, in a public financial disclosure report that appeared to cover the period of 2024 and which was released on Friday, according to Reuters. The report showed that Trump made millions in royalty payments for products that feature his name and likeness, according to NBC News. $TRUMP was released in January and not included in the filing, per NBC.
"The foray into phones raises new questions about conflicts of interest, with the president's family business entering a sector heavily regulated by federal agencies while Trump wields executive power over them," The Guardian reported on Monday. "It creates a particularly difficult situation for the Federal Communications Commission chairman, Brendan Carr, who must now oversee regulatory matters affecting a network bearing his boss's name."
Robert Weissman, co-president of the watchdog group Public Citizen, wrote on Monday that "Americans should slam down the phone in response to the latest marketing ploy from the Trump family business. Everything about this plan should tell Americans to disconnect right away."
Weissman cast doubt on the plan for a number of reasons, including that the physical phone would be designed and built in the United States. While speaking on "The Benny Show," Eric Trump said Monday that "eventually all the phones can be built in the United States."
Separately, Weissman added, "Good luck getting a federal agency to hold the company accountable if service fails or things go off the rails."
"We'll need many more details to fully assess what's going on—including the worrisome claim of offering a pharmacy and telehealth benefit—but it's already clear this is a plan that should be canceled, immediately," Weissman concluded.
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