Blumenthal, Schiff, & Warren Raise Concerns About Trump Administration Directing Taxpayer Dollars Toward Critical Mining Companies Linked to Trump & Lutnick Families

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] — This week, U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Ranking Member of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI), Adam Schiff (D-CA), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) raised concerns in two letters about potential conflicts of interest surrounding the Trump Administration’s deals with more than a dozen critical mining companies with ties to President Trump’s family, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s family, or both. In a letter sent to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, and President & Chairman of the Export-Import Bank of the United States John Jovanovic, Blumenthal, Schiff, and Warren demanded answers about the deals and President Trump’s role in effectuating them. Citing recent reporting from The New York Times, the Senators wrote: “Securing supply chains for critical minerals is vital for America’s national security and economic competitiveness, and has accordingly been a priority for recent administrations of both political parties… In the second Trump Administration, funding for efforts to secure in these supply chains has skyrocketed, with the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) providing nearly $13 billion for direct Defense Production Act grants and approximately $350 billion in available financing for critical minerals and other projects. This has resulted in what has been described as ‘a modern-day gold rush in the critical minerals industry.’” The Senators continued, “Recent reporting suggests that the result has been a host of deals to benefit the Trump and Lutnick families, including deals involving each of your agencies or departments. The 14 deals identified so far show that the government has provided or is considering providing these companies with at least $8.9 billion taxpayer dollars.” In a separate letter sent to David A. Lorch, the Director of the Office of Strategic Capital (OSC) for the Department of Defense, Schiff, Warren, and Blumenthal sought records and information about a $620 million loan committed to Vulcan Elements, a rare earth magnet company backed by Donald Trump Jr. Pointing to recent reporting from ProPublica that White House Senior Counselor for Trade and manufacturing Peter Navarro intervened directly in the contracting process for this loan , the Senators wrote, “These reports raise grave ethical and public safety concerns and the specter that the Pentagon is corruptly prioritizing funding for critical defense components based on ties to the Trump family. The use of funds from the so-called OBBBA to enrich a Trump family member is a further affront to taxpayers from a law that is estimated to add $5.1 trillion to the federal deficit. The loan to Vulcan Elements represents roughly 13% of all capital committed by the OSC as of January 2026.” The Senators continued, “The American people must be able to trust that our Department of Defense makes decisions based exclusively on furthering national security interests, not political cronyism. Forcing OSC staff to work late nights to complete a contract designed to benefit the Trump family diverts valuable resources away from other, more effective defense capabilities. Further, staffing Department of Defense offices for the benefit of commercial gain risks American lives and wastes taxpayer funding.” The full text of the Senators’ letter to Trump Administration officials is available here . The full text of the Senators’ letter to OSC is available here . -30-