On August 26, 2026, Rep. Jamie Raskin, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, wrote to 1789 Capital opening an investigation into the venture firm Donald Trump Jr. joined shortly after his father returned to office.
Raskin's letter argues the firm's investments since January 2025 have been timed with “almost clairvoyant accuracy,” and asks whether that timing was assisted by access to the administration, raising the possibility of fraud and insider trading. The firm was reportedly worth a few million dollars when Trump Jr. joined and is now valued at roughly $3 billion.
Several portfolio companies subsequently benefited from federal funding, contracts or regulatory decisions: Vulcan Elements, which received a $620 million Pentagon loan initiated by White House Senior Counselor Peter Navarro and documented separately in this tracker; Anduril Industries; Juul Labs; and Polymarket.
The firm rejects the allegations. Counsel AJ Merton called them “unsubstantiated talking points.”
The status of this belongs on the record plainly. This is a congressional minority-party investigation, not a prosecution or a finding. No evidence has been presented that 1789 Capital broke any law, and a ranking member has subpoena power only if his party controls the chamber, which it does not. What the letter documents is the pattern it asks about and the questions it puts, not an established violation.