Trump Has Used Taxpayer Money To Purchase Stakes in Dozens of Companies. Congress Is About to Make It Easier.
Eric Boehm
Thu, June 18, 2026
The Trump administration has taken equity stakes in private businesses, and Congress is considering creating a new fund for future presidents to do the same.
By taking equity stakes in more than a dozen private businesses, the Trump administration has stretched executive power to new heights—and now Congress is working to ensure that future presidents get the same opportunity.
The Senate's version of the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act includes a provision to create a new slush fund within the U.S. Treasury for the purpose of buying stakes in more private businesses. The Pentagon would be able to tap the proposed Defense Equity Investment Account to make investments of up to $500 million in private companies involved in the production of "critical minerals, materials, and chemicals" or batteries.
The provision, which is buried within the 1,500-word bill drafted this week by the Senate Armed Services Committee, would allow the "direct or indirect purchase, acquisition, or commitment of funds by the Department of Defense in exchange for an ownership interest, convertible interest, warrant, revenue-sharing instrument, or other similar financial instrument in a non-Federal entity."
Besides the $500 million cap on those investments, the government is also forbidden from taking more than a 50 percent ownership stake in any private business. Other than that, however, there seem to be few limitations or guardrails on how the new equity account could be used.
During a closed-door session last week, the Senate Armed Services Committee reportedly voted down an amendment that would have prohibited the Trump administration from taking equity stakes in businesses with ties to the president, his family members, and members of his cabinet.
Some of the Trump administration's investment decisions have seemingly benefited those close to Trump. Vulcan Elements, which makes magnets out of rare earth elements, got a $620 million loan from the Pentagon's Office of Strategic Capital. Donald Trump Jr. is a partner at the company.
Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D–Mich.) told NOTUS that Republicans rejected that proposal after expressing worries about how Trump would react. "Over and over we heard in the NDAA markup a number of my Republican colleagues express concern that they didn't want to insult the president, they didn't want to send a negative message to the president, they didn't want to offend the president, or they were scared of his reaction," Slotkin said.
It would be a good idea for lawmakers to prevent the president from using a new Pentagon slush fund to enrich his relatives and allies. But it would be better to avoid creating this account in the first place. Congress should not be codifying Trump's socialist behavior and should not be making it easier (and legal) for future presidents to follow suit.
"If Washington wants more domestic or allied production of minerals, magnets, chemicals, or batteries, it has tools that do not require making taxpayers shareholders," like removing permitting and regulatory hurdles or following the regular government procurement process, writes Tad DeHaven, a policy analyst at the Cato Institute. "What it shouldn't do is pick favored companies and make the federal government an investor, customer, regulator, and political patron."
Trump administration quietly shifts $352m in federal funds for White House ballroom
Joseph Gedeon in Washington
Thu, June 18, 2026
Donald Trump at the site of ongoing construction of the planned White House ballroom on 19 May 2026.Photograph: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
Donald Trump's administration has quietly redirected $352m in federal funds designated for the Secret Service toward the president's controversial White House ballroom project, despite repeated promises by Trump that the construction would be financed by private donations
The funds were drawn from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Trump's signature tax legislation passed last summer on Republican-only votes. The law stipulates the money may only be spent on Secret Service personnel, training facilities, technology and related costs, not construction.
About $340.8m of the funding was placed into an account labeled "Procurement, Construction, and Improvements" on 12 June, according to the office of management and budget (OMB) database. Another account labeled "Operations and Support" was also approved the same day, adding another $10.75m to the budget.
The move came after Congress explicitly refused to provide $1bn in funds for the "East Wing Modernization Project", the Trump administration's official name for a 90,000-sq-ft ballroom being built on the site of the White House's demolished East Wing.
The administration argued the funds were needed for legitimate security upgrades, pointing to recent threats against Trump, including an alleged plot to attack Sunday's UFC Freedom 250 event on the White House south lawn.
"The East Wing Modernization Project is inextricably tied to the security of the president, the White House grounds and the certain security infrastructure assets," White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said. "President Trump and generous American patriots are funding the ballroom to the tune of approximately $400m, which will be a secure and appropriate venue for presidents for generations to come."
Those disrupted attacks, Ingle said, "proves exactly why" the project is needed for events at the White House, which include "drone-proof structures and drone ports among other critical security enhancements".
Senior legislators were unconvinced. "That's a big problem," Senator Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina who is retiring at the end of the year, told Notus. "That sounds like a different way to fund the East Wing project. On its face it doesn't sound right."
Brian Schatz, a Democratic senator from Hawaii on the appropriations committee, also told the outlet: "I don't know whether it's the ballroom, but it sounds like the ballroom."
The row is the latest chapter in a widening controversy over who is actually paying for the project. When the ballroom was announced in July 2025 at an estimated cost of $200m, Trump described it as "a private thing", before the East Wing was destroyed in October.
In late March, with estimates doubling to $400m, Trump insisted: "This is taxpayer-free. We have no taxpayer putting up 10 cents."
But those assurances have since frayed. Internal records obtained by the Washington Post from Clark Construction, the firm leading the project, show plans calling for $155m from Secret Service funds, $149m from the White House military office and $3m from the executive residence, all of which is public money, alongside private contributions. The Washington Post has reported total costs could reach $600m.
The private fundraising side has drawn its own scrutiny.
Watchdogs including the Campaign Legal Center have warned that donations from major corporations such as Meta, Coinbase and Lockheed Martin, all of whom have significant interests before the US federal government, create a substantial risk of corruption.
Construction, meanwhile, remains subject to ongoing legal challenges, after a federal judge ruled in March that the administration had probably exceeded its authority in demolishing the East Wing without congressional approval.
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