Former President Donald Trump appeared in the spin room following the second presidential debate held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia on September 10, 2024. In a separate matter, ABC News came under scrutiny after it deleted a report targeting the business dealings of Trump’s sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, subsequent to legal threats. The network did not offer an explanation or editor’s note for removing the controversial article.
The excised report, accessible through the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine, initially bore the headline, “Trump sons’ investments have won billions in Pentagon contracts since his election.” It implicated Anduril, a company developing a new shipyard in Baltimore, citing its connections to Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump.
ABC News highlighted that “1789 Capital—where Donald Trump Jr. is one of the six partners—held a significant stake in Anduril after a $2.5 billion investment.” Reports indicated that since that investment, Anduril secured 135 contracts with the U.S. government, totaling around $1.8 billion in earnings from these agreements, as noted in active defense contracts listed on SAM.gov.
Anduril is a leading manufacturer that received investment from both Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, though they are not exclusive investors.
Alexa Henning, representing 1789 Capital and previously a senior aide in national intelligence, criticized the removed story. She asserted that the piece conflated raising funds with direct investment and criticized the coverage as biased. She pointed out that many companies, including Anduril, had obtained government contracts during both the Biden and Trump administrations.
Following the deletion, ABC News has not commented on the removal of the report nor the absence of a public correction. They also erased a connected social media post that had initially gained traction among several democratic figures.
Before the article was withdrawn, Henning reached out to Fox News Digital, explaining the inaccuracies in the original report’s representation of 1789 Capital’s operations. Additionally, she noted that ABC News did not seek comment from 1789 Capital prior to publishing the now-deleted content.
In response to the story’s removal, Donald Trump Jr. addressed California Governor Gavin Newsom, who had previously shared ABC’s initial report. He emphasized the article’s deletion as an indication of its falsehood and made light of its quick removal in comparison to a hypothetical campaign by Newsom.
Fox News Digital’s Morgan Phillips contributed to this report. Story tips can be sent to [email protected].
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