ProPublica published a May 28, 2026 investigation showing that White House senior counselor Peter Navarro initiated a $620 million Pentagon loan commitment to Vulcan Elements, a North Carolina rare-earth magnet startup that had fewer than 50 employees at the time. In August 2025 Vulcan announced $65 million in investments, including from 1789 Capital, the venture firm where Donald Trump Jr. is a partner; in November the Pentagon announced the loan. “Estimates of Vulcan's valuation went from around $200 million near the time 1789 Capital first invested, according to Bloomberg, to around $2 billion,” ProPublica reported.
According to sources who were not authorized to speak publicly, the deal moved unusually fast. One Pentagon official told ProPublica that “of the dozens of companies the Pentagon was considering funding at the time, Vulcan's was the only deal initiated by a top aide to the president”; another person involved said staff worked late nights to get the loan through “in a matter of weeks,” adding, “The call came from the White House: We have to get this done.”
Adjacent transactions: the Pentagon also announced an $80 million conditional loan commitment to ReElement Technologies, Vulcan's processing partner, though Bloomberg later reported the Pentagon may ultimately not lend to ReElement; and Vulcan was to receive $50 million in Commerce Department incentives. Navarro and Trump Jr. are friends; Trump Jr. visited Navarro during his federal imprisonment and promoted Navarro's book on his streaming show.
Navarro and Vulcan did not respond to ProPublica. 1789 Capital said it played no role in Vulcan getting the loan. A Pentagon spokesperson: “No company receives preferential treatment.” Richard Painter, the chief White House ethics lawyer under George W. Bush: “This is our money they're spending,” and, “This is corruption we pay for.”
ProPublica wrote that its reporting “represents the first time the awarding of a contract from a federal agency has been directly linked to White House intervention.” On July 30, 2026, Sen. Adam Schiff and colleagues wrote to the Pentagon that the Vulcan loan “represents roughly 13% of all capital committed by the Office of Strategic Capital” as of January 2026. It joins other Trump-family business with the government (see The Pentagon Awards a $20B Sole-Source Contract to Anduril Days After Jared Kushner's Brother Co-Led a $4B Investment in the Company, Raskin Launches an Investigation Into Kushner for Negotiating the Iran War While Running a $6.2B Fund Bankrolled by Saudi Arabia, ProPublica Publishes 3,200 Disclosure Records Showing Trump Appointees' Ties to the Industries They Regulate).
Correction (September 25, 2026): this entry previously read as if the loan was announced in August 2025 (that was the investment; the loan came in November), stated a tenfold valuation increase “after the loan” as fact (ProPublica reports it as estimates), described an $80 million loan as having gone to Vulcan (it was a conditional commitment to its partner, which may not be made), presented two anonymous-source claims as ProPublica's own findings, said all parties denied any role (Navarro and Vulcan did not respond), and stated its own conclusion that this was the first documented instance of its kind (that is ProPublica's claim, now quoted).