Vulcan Elements

Emoluments Clause

@Emolclause

#BREAKING: Psaki: “…I have to start tonight with a story that in any other administration, would be grounds for opening an impeachment inquiry, because today ProPublica reported that the White House intervened to get a $620 million deal for a company tied to President Trump’s adult son @DonaldJTrumpJr…the deal in question involved a startup focused on rare earth magnet production called Vulcan Elements and last Summer, Don Jr’s venture capital firm took an undisclosed stake in that company, and wouldn’t you know…three months later, the Pentagon announced that it was giving Vulcan Elements a $620 million loan.”🙄🤦‍♀️

Mike Levin

@MikeLevin

Follow the money on this one. It is rotten to the core. The Pentagon just lent $620,000,000 to a tiny North Carolina startup called Vulcan Elements. The company is two years old. It had fewer than 50 employees. And three months before the deal was announced, Donald Trump Jr.’s venture firm quietly took a stake in it. Here is the part the administration tried to bury. Of the dozens of companies the Pentagon was weighing, Vulcan was the only deal initiated by a top White House aide. That aide was Peter Navarro, a close friend of Trump Jr. The order came down to move fast. One official put it plainly: The call came from the White House. We have to get this done. Staff worked late nights to push it through in weeks. Deals like this normally take many months of vetting. And when it closed, Vulcan’s valuation jumped from about 200 million dollars to roughly 2 billion. A windfall for the investors, including the president’s son. This is public money. Your money. Routed through the Pentagon to enrich the president’s family and their friends. The Bush administration’s own chief ethics lawyer called it corruption we pay for. And there is more coming. A drone parts company Trump Jr. holds a stake in is also under Pentagon review. This is not a one-off. It is a pattern. The president’s family is treating the federal Treasury like a private bank, and the bill lands on every taxpayer. https://t.co/4kB1cZNmlE

P a u l ◉

@SkylineReport

The White House says it was industrial policy. Critics say it looks like insider access. Here's what we actually know. Donald Trump Jr.'s investment firm took a stake in Vulcan Elements. Months later, Peter Navarro personally pushed the Pentagon to fast-track a $620 million loan to the company, according to ProPublica. The government also took an equity stake. No evidence has publicly proven corruption. But when a president's family invests first, a senior White House adviser intervenes, and taxpayers become financial partners afterward, conflict-of-interest questions aren't optional. That's exactly why Congress is demanding answers.

Mike Young

@micyoung75

The Mullin story and the morning's ProPublica story are running in the same edition for a reason. ProPublica found that a $620 million Pentagon contract went to Vulcan Elements, a company in which Trump Jr.'s venture capital firm is an investor. Peter Navarro initiated the request - the only deal among dozens of pending applications that came directly from a top presidential aide. Pentagon staff were instructed to work nights to push the loan through in weeks. One official's summary: "The call came from the White House: We have to get this done." Six hundred and twenty million dollars. One of the dozens of pending applications. The only one Navarro called about. Mullin's international flights proposal is flatly illegal and courts will say so if it's ever filed. The Vulcan contract already happened.

CathyNotToday2 🌿

@Cathy2NotToday

BREAKING: Trump EXPOSED For Moving $600 Million in Military Funds to his Son's Company Written by: Craig Wood Jul 22, 2026 Donald Trump Jr. took an undisclosed stake in a small North Carolina startup. Three months later, the Pentagon announced it would lend that company $620 million. The White House says he had nothing to do with it. A ProPublica investigation found that isn’t true. What ProPublica Found When the Pentagon announced the loan to Vulcan Elements last year, defense officials and the company insisted it had nothing to do with cronyism. Trump Jr.’s spokesperson said he wasn’t involved. The Pentagon said he played no role. The startup’s founder told reporters there was no political favoritism. Interviews and Defense Department records reviewed by ProPublica tell a different story. The request to loan hundreds of millions of dollars to the firm came from Peter Navarro, a senior White House adviser and a close personal friend of Trump Jr.’s. Of the dozens of companies the Pentagon was considering funding at the time, Vulcan’s was the only deal initiated by a top aide to the president, according to a Pentagon official. Read more: https://t.co/lLzcM03KEk

Moe Davis (U.S. Air Force, Retired)

@ColMoeDavis

Those of us who served in the military or in the federal government remember the strict ethical rules we were required to follow in order to avoid the appearance of impropriety. My daughter couldn’t sell a $2 bar of band candy to anyone junior to me and if visited a company that did business with the government and they offered me a cup of coffee and a doughnut I had to decline it or pay for it. Trump has made exploiting “public service” for personal enrichment the centerpiece of his year and a half in office. He ran on reforming a government that many felt favored the rich and powerful and ignored working class Americans and on making things more affordable for everyone. Instead, he’s spent lavishly on a gold plated lifestyle for himself and he’s given regular folks $4+ gas and $39.5 trillion pile of debt. In 2025, Trump made $2.2 billion while claiming he was working tirelessly and at great personal sacrifice for the American people. The largest part of his $2.2 billion windfall— $800 million — came from World Liberty Financial, his family’s crypto firm. The Trump’s own 38% of WLF and their main partner (with a 49% stake) is Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan from the United Arab Emirates. You may recall that the Founding Fathers put the Foreign Emoluments Clause in the Constitution to prevent the corrupting influence on our nation’s leaders of foreign entanglements . . . how quaint. His second most lucrative endeavor was his $TRUMP meme coin. He pocketed a $636 million dollar profit while a million investors in his coin lost $3.8 billion. The coin that once fetched a price of $75 is currently worth a buck sixty, a 98% decline in value. And you may recall that Trump launched his meme coin just 72 hours before his inauguration. Well played! Congress is debating the Clarity Act, which would supposedly regulate the crypto industry. Democrats are pushing for a provision in the bill that would prohibit public officials from selling digital currencies, but Republicans want to weaken the language to allow Trump to continue lining his pockets with crypto gold. Public integrity . . . how quaint. And the whole family is in on the action. Trump Junior’s investment firm earned a 200% return compared with an average 21% return earned by its peers. As an example of Junior’s “luck,” his firm invested in Vulcan Elements, a company that produces rare earth minerals, which was valued at $200 million at the time of the investment. Shortly thereafter, the Pentagon loaned Vulcan $620 million of your taxpayer dollars after the White House leaned on the Defense Department to make the loan and suddenly the $200 million dollar company saw its value soar to $2 billion dollars. Sweet! Just yesterday Trump said again that we’re living in a Golden Age. That’s certainly true for him and his family, but unless you’re one of the oligarchs, you’re getting a Golden Shower. Enjoy!

John Maslin

Co-founder & CEO

Former U.S. Navy officer and Harvard MBA who founded Vulcan to rebuild domestic rare-earth magnet manufacturing.

Previously at Niron Magnetics, Inc. · Greater Minneapolis-St. Paul Area

Joined May 2026

Henry K.

Materials And Process Engineer

Previously at Duke University, Bass Connections · United States

Joined May 2026

Conall Persechino

Operations Specialist

Previously at Boston Metal · Raleigh, North Carolina, United States

Joined May 2026

David Kanoy

Materials Analysis Engineer

Previously at Accident Reconstruction Analysis, PLLC · Thomasville, North Carolina, United States

Joined May 2026

Previously at Dragonfly Pond Works · Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill Area

Joined Jun 2026