Huffman, Garcia Demand Documents from Vulcan Elements After White House Pushed Through $620 Million Loan to Company Tied to Donald Trump Jr.

August 10, 2026

Washington, D.C. – Today, House NaturalResources Committee Ranking Member Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) and House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Ranking Member Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) sent a letterto Vulcan Elements CEO John Maslin demanding overdue documents after ProPublica reporting revealed that the company’s $620 million Department of Defense loan resulted from direct White House intervention, contradicting assurances Maslin gave Committee staff and reporters that his company received no political favoritism.

“We write regarding serious concerns about corruption in government contracting, from which your company may have benefited,” the Ranking Members wrote. “According to ProPublica, the $620 million loan your company, Vulcan Elements, received from the Department of Defense’s Office of Strategic Capital (OSC) was the result of direct White House intervention. This is the opposite of what you told us—and reporters—happened.”

The loan, the largest in the Office of Strategic Capital’s history, came three months after 1789 Capital, the venture capital firm where Donald Trump Jr. serves as a partner, took an equity stake in Vulcan Elements. According to ProPublica, the deal was initiated by Peter Navarro, a senior White House adviser and close personal friend of Trump Jr., and Pentagon staff were directed to complete the deal in a matter of weeks at an “unusually rapid pace.”

“The ProPublica reporting indicates that Mr. Navarro’s intervention on behalf of a company in which the President’s son held a financial stake was not coincidental to the award process; it was the extent of the award process,” the Ranking Members wrote. “The American people deserve a full accounting of this apparent political favor, which was funded by their taxpayer dollars.”

The Ranking Members laid out a four-month timeline. In July 2025, Maslin met with 1789 Capital, where Donald Trump Jr. was a subject of discussion. In August, the firm bought an ownership stake in Vulcan Elements, then a 30-employee startup. Within about a month, the White House directed the Pentagon to treat a loan to Vulcan Elements as a top priority, and staff were told to expedite the loan. By November, the company had won the largest loan in the Office of Strategic Capital’s history at the time, plus a $50 million equity stake from the Department of Commerce.

“Within the span of four months, your company went from a small startup with 30 employees to the top investment priority of the White House,” they wrote.

The letter also raises questions about ReElement Technologies, Vulcan Elements’ intended supply chain partner, which withdrew from an $80 million conditional loan process in July 2026 after Pentagon due diligence reviews raised serious doubts about the company’s ability to scale, only to receive a new $25 million federal investment three days later.

“Questions about the viability of your partner company, ReElement Technologies, have since emerged, illustrating why political favoritism in the federal government’s award processes is not only corrupt; it is also bad for business: it undermines competition in the market and burdens taxpayers with the costs of avoidable business failures,” the Ranking Members wrote.

During an April 16, 2026, meeting with NaturalResources Committee Democratic staff, Maslin assured staff, as he had assured reporters, that Vulcan Elements received no political favoritism in connection with its federal awards. ProPublica’s reporting contradicts that assurance. A Pentagon official confirmed that the Vulcan Elements deal was the only one initiated by a top aide to the president, with one person directly involved saying,

“The call came from the White House: We have to get this done.” That aide was Peter Navarro, who calls Donald Trump Jr. “brother” and whom Trump Jr. called “my boy” on a public broadcast one week before the Pentagon announced the loan.

At that same meeting, Maslin committed to producing four sets of documents, including the company’s “anti-corruption policy.” None have been shared with the Committee. Today’s letter restates those four requests and adds thirteen more, including all communications between Vulcan Elements and 1789 Capital, Peter Navarro, the White House, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Commerce since January 20, 2025.

Read the full letter to Vulcan Elements CEO John Maslin here.

Background

Ranking Members Huffman, Garcia, and Heinrich opened a formal congressional inquiry on February 2, 2026, into the Trump administration’s decision to commit billions of dollars in public funds to minerals companies in exchange for equity stakes, after waiving critical requirements for transparency and accountability. Multiple beneficiaries of those equity deals have documented connections to top administration officials, including Vulcan Elements and its supply chain partner ReElement Technologies.
In March 2026, Natural Resources Committee Democrats forced a vote on a subpoena motion that would have compelled Donald Trump Jr. to testify under oath about whether he profited from his father's presidency. Committee Republicans voted it down, blocking transparency around the use of hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars.

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