Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., speaks to reporters after the Senate Armed Services Committee closes a briefing on the Iran war at the Capitol Visitor Center on Tuesday, March 10, 2026.
Tom Williams | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | getty images
The Defense Department has no plans to prevent President Donald Trump’s family from profiting on lucrative defense contracts, Senator Elizabeth Warren said in a letter Tuesday to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared exclusively with CNBC.
The letter comes after the Pentagon sent Warren a response to an investigation sent to the department by a Massachusetts Democrat in January seeking answers about the agency’s contracts with Trump’s children. CNBC also reviewed a previously unreported Defense Department response, which Warren said failed to answer her questions about the Trump family’s potential involvement in the agency’s contracting decisions.
“It failed to answer most of the questions we asked regarding DoD’s decision-making process for contracts and loan guarantees referenced in our January 22, 2026 letter,” Warren wrote of the Defense Department’s response in the new letter, which was signed by Senator Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. “It also shows that DoD has no effective process to ensure that DoD contracts are appropriately awarded to companies based on our national security and defense needs rather than the financial interests of the President’s family.”
The Defense Department said in its initial response to Warren that the Pentagon’s “(Office of Strategic Capital) is committed to maintaining the highest ethical standards and ensuring that its investment decisions are free from conflicts of interest involving Department of War (DOW) personnel.”
“In addition, the Department goes beyond minimum regulatory review requirements by mandating that DoW supervisors provide an additional review to identify any potential connections between the filer’s official duties and the interests listed on the financial disclosure form,” the letter, written by Assistant Defense Secretary Dan Hughes, said.
Hughes’ letter did not specifically mention Trump’s children, nor did it detail how the department handles specific contracts with respect to their interests. Warren asked several questions in her initial letter about DOD employees’ relationships with Donald Trump Jr.
Warren said, “This response indicates that DoD is oblivious to — and therefore unable to address — the potential for corruption arising from the Trump family’s investments in companies that benefit financially from taxpayer-funded, DoD contracts.” “In these cases, the mechanism of potential corruption is not at all related to DoD employees contracting financial investments: as we explained in the letter we sent in January, that mechanism includes the President or his family having inside information or influence over DoD policies and plans, and potential political favoritism by DoD officials who want to remain in the good graces of the President or his family.”
Warren’s concerns over Defense Department contracts with entities linked to Trump Jr. come amid earlier controversies over the family’s business ties. Democrats, including Warren, have repeatedly warned that Trump’s children’s growing business portfolio risks corrupting influence with a larger Trump-run government.
The investigation has only increased after the support of Trump Jr. and his brother Eric Trump Powers, A drone company that aims to win Defense Department contracts. DoD is spending approx. $1 billion In an effort to boost domestic drone production.
“Restoring U.S. supply chains is critical to national security, and the administration’s war in Iran shows the extent to which drones are becoming an important battlefield weapon,” Warren wrote. “But the circumstances surrounding this new merger and the involvement of the President’s children cast a cloud of corruption and conflict of interest over any DoD contract this company may receive.”
When CNBC asked about Warren’s new letter, a Pentagon spokesperson responded only, “As with all congressional correspondence, we will respond to the senator in writing.”