Top House Democrat Probes 1789 Capital Over Trump Family Ties
Thu, August 27, 2026 at 7:43 PM GMT+3 3 min read
(Bloomberg) -- The top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee launched an investigation into 1789 Capital, a venture capital firm with ties to President Donald Trump's eldest son, questioning the fund's investments in companies boosted by the administration.
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Representative Jamie Raskin questioned the firm's above-average returns since naming Donald Trump Jr. a partner days after his father's election to a second term. Several of the fund's portfolio companies, including Vulcan Elements Inc., Anduril Industries Inc., Juul Labs Inc. and Polymarket benefited from funding, contracts or regulatory decisions by the administration.
"With Don Jr.'s new leadership role, 1789 Capital has developed an uncanny ability to identify companies that are about to receive massive influxes of cash from the Trump Administration or to benefit from significant changes in federal policies and regulations. They say there is no such thing as a sure thing in investing, but this is about as close as you can get," Raskin wrote in a letter to the firm's leadership dated Wednesday.
With Republicans in control of the House, Raskin can't force the fund to cooperate, but that could change next year if Democrats take the majority in this year's midterm elections. Raskin would then be in line to chair the Judiciary Committee, a position that would allow him to compel compliance with his investigative requests through subpoenas.
1789 Capital didn't immediately provide a comment.
Raskin and other top Democrats are already laying the groundwork for potential future investigations. Companies with ties the administration and Trump family members and other officials are seen as prime targets.
1789 Capital launched 2022 with a focus on companies associated with conservative values. Since Trump returned to office, the firm has enjoyed an above-average rate of return on investments and assets under management have soared from a few hundred million to about $3 billion.
Raskin highlighted the fund's investments in Vulcan Elements, a rare earth magnet manufacturer the administration awarded with grants and contracts before purchasing an equity stake; Anduril, a defense company that has received tens of billions of dollars in government contracts under Trump; Juul, an e-cigarette company that benefited from the administration's abandonment of an earlier effort to ban its products; and Polymarket, a prediction market that had been kicked offshore by federal regulators but was then allowed to return to the US market.
Raskin asked the firm to share a list of all its portfolio companies and any due diligence performed by the venture capital fund, any communications between 1789 Capital and government officials and documentation around the decision to bring Trump's son on as a partner. He directed the firm to preserve its documents.
--With assistance from Annie Massa.
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