Donald Trump Jr slams report comparing him to Hunter Biden over business dealings
Amid accusations over the nature of theTrump family’s business connections in the Middle East and the apparent gift of a jumbo jet to the U.S. by Qatar, Donald Trump Jr. has reacted furiously to a report that accuses him of cashing in on his father’s presidency through the dealings of a small venture capital firm.
The report by Business Insider makes a stark comparison between the president’s eldest son and the son of his predecessor, Hunter Biden, which Trump Jr. takes particular exception to.
Republicans relentlessly hounded President Joe Biden’s son for allegedly using his famous last name in his own dealings in Ukraine and China. With a possible prison sentence hanging over him for gun and tax convictions, his father issued a presidential pardon before leaving office.
The Insider article alleges that Don Jr stands to profit handsomely from federal contracts awarded by his father’s administration to companies in which the venture capital firm has invested. It also claims that a private club being set up in Washington, D.C., is effectively “selling access to the president via the back door.”
Reposting a tweet linking to a Breitbart News response to the article, Don Jr said on X: “The difference between me and Hunter Biden? I’ve been a businessman and serial investor my entire adult life. He became a ‘businessman’ after his dad got elected.”
He continued: “I joined a Venture Capital Firm that invests in private American companies — Nothing to do with the government. He sat on foreign boards and was peddling influence to the highest bidder to change government policy.”
Finally he wrotes: “Oh, and he’s also a felon crackhead and I’m not. Thanks for playing, guys!”
Don Jr joined 1789 Capital, which invests in American companies with conservative values, shortly after President Donald Trump was re-elected.
Based in Palm Beach, Florida, near Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club, 1789 was a smaller firm having raised less than $200 million at that point. Its largest investment was leading a group to put $15 million into Tucker Carlson’s media company.
The firm has since blossomed, the Insider report states, having raised $500 million in the first three months of the Trump presidency, with plans to collect $1 billion for its first fund by the middle of the year. Another fund valued between $3 billion and $5 billion is in the works for next year.
Early investments reportedly included share offerings in Elon Musk’s SpaceX and an investment in his artificial intelligence company xAI, to the tune of $50 million. There were also investments in startups that have received or are in play for Defense Department contracts, the report says.
The nature of the investments has raised alarms about the potential for conflicts of interest, given the work of Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
“This certainly raises serious concerns about the appearance of corruption, because Trump’s family is benefiting,” Laura Dickinson, a law professor at George Washington University who has served as special counsel for the Defense Department, told Insider.
“And when you look at this in the context of arbitrary cuts to other programs, it raises questions about whether preferential treatment is being given to family and others who curry favor with Trump.”
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