The White House Just Handed Trump's Son $620 Million of Your Tax Dollars

A ProPublica investigation revealed that the Pentagon issued a $620 million loan to Vulcan Elements, a roughly 30-employee rare-earth magnet startup in North Carolina, about three months after Donald Trump Jr.‘s venture capital firm, 1789 Capital, took an undisclosed stake in the company. The loan came through the Defense Department’s Office of Strategic Capital, part of a broader, bipartisan effort to reduce U.S. dependence on China for rare-earth magnets used in drones, satellites, and weapons systems.According to ProPublica, of the dozens of companies the Pentagon was weighing at the time, Vulcan’s was the only deal initiated by a top White House official: Peter Navarro, the senior counselor for trade, who has no formal role in Pentagon lending decisions. One defense official said staff were told, “The call came from the White House: We have to get this done.” Navarro is a close friend of Trump Jr., who visited him during his four-month prison sentence for defying a January 6th subpoena, and who promoted Navarro’s book to his streaming audience roughly a week before the loan was announced. After the deal, Vulcan’s estimated valuation grew roughly tenfold.This week, a group of lawmakers including Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Richard Blumenthal, Mazie Hirono, and Reps. Jason Crow and Mike Levin sent a letter to the White House demanding answers. Sen. Patty Murray of Washington called for a congressional investigation, and Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia called it “corruption to the highest degree.”Sources:https://www.propublica.org/article/donald-trump-jr-vulcan-lawmakers-letterhttps://www.propublica.org/article/donald-trump-jr-vulcan-deal-white-house Get full access to The Rogue Voice aka Linsay Rousseau at linsayrousseau.substack.com/subscribe