DOD has no anti-corruption protocols for Trump children
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., speaks with reporters after the Senate Armed Services Committee’s closing briefing on the Iran war at the Capitol Visitors Center on Tuesday, March 10, 2026.
Tom Williams | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images
The Department of Defense has no plans to prevent President Donald Trump’s family from profiting from lucrative defense contracts, Sen. Elizabeth Warren said in a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared exclusively with CNBC.
The letter, which arrived Tuesday, came after the Pentagon sent Warren a response to an inquiry the Massachusetts Democrat sent to the department in January seeking answers about the agency’s contract with Trump’s children. CNBC also reviewed the Defense Department’s previously unreported response; Warren said she was unable to answer the Trump family’s questions about the agency’s possible involvement in contract decisions.
“It failed to answer the vast majority of the questions we asked about the Department of Defense’s decision-making process for the contracts and loan guarantees referenced in our Jan. 22, 2026, letter,” Warren wrote of the Defense Department’s response in the new letter, co-signed by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. “It also suggests that the Department of Defense lacks effective processes to ensure that DoD contracts are fairly awarded to companies based on our national security and defense needs rather than the financial interests of the President’s family.”
In its initial response to Warren, the Department of Defense said the Pentagon said,[Office of Strategic Capital] “is committed to upholding the highest ethical standards and ensuring that investment decisions are free from conflicts of interest involving Department of War (DoW) personnel.”
“In addition, the Department goes beyond the minimum regulatory review requirements by requiring DoW auditors to conduct an additional review to determine the possible connection between the filer’s official duties and the interests listed on the financial disclosure form,” the letter written by Deputy Secretary of Defense Dane Hughes said. The statement was included.
Hughes’ letter did not specifically mention Trump’s children, nor did it include details of how the department handled specific contracts related to their interests. In her first letter, Warren alleges that Department of Defense employees are talking about Donald Trump Jr. He asked many questions about his connections with.
“This response demonstrates that the Department of Defense appears unaware of, and therefore unable to combat, the potential for corruption created by the Trump family’s investments in companies that financially benefit from taxpayer-funded Department of Defense contracts,” Warren said. “In these cases, the potential mechanism of corruption is in no way related to the financial investments of DoD contract employees: As detailed in our January letter, it involves the President or his family having insider knowledge or influence over DoD policies and plans, and potential political favoritism by DoD officials seeking to be in the good will of the President or his family.”
Warren’s Defense Department’s Trump Jr. His concern about contracts with entities linked to the family comes amid a series of controversies over the first family’s business ties. Democrats, including Warren, have repeatedly warned that Trump’s children’s growing business portfolio risks being sold to the government run by the elder Trump, thus corrupting his influence.
Reviews but Trump Jr. and increased after supporting his brother Eric Trump Powerus, A drone company aiming to win Ministry of Defense tenders. DOD spends approximately $1 billion In order to revitalize domestic drone production.
“Revitalizing U.S. supply chains is vital to national security, and the administration’s war in Iran highlights the extent to which drones are becoming an increasingly important battlefield weapon,” Warren wrote. “But the circumstances surrounding this new merger and the involvement of the President’s children cast a cloud of corruption and conflicts of interest over the Department of Defense contracts this company may receive.”
When CNBC asked about Warren’s new letter, a Pentagon spokesperson responded only: “As with all correspondence to Congress, we will respond to the Senator in writing.”
