ABC News Republishes Corrected Story On Trump Sons' Business Dealings

ABC News quietly republished a revised version of a report scrutinizing the business dealings of President Donald Trump's oldest sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, on Friday evening.

The original report, published Wednesday afternoon, was removed less than 24 hours later without a public explanation. The revised report reappeared on ABC News' website with an editor's note, factual corrections, and a new headline: "New shipyard announced amid earlier Democratic concerns about potential conflicts of interest." The original headline was "Trump sons' investments have won billions in Pentagon contracts since his election."

The editor's note acknowledged errors in the description of company investments, government contracts, and the chronology of events. The article's byline was also changed to "ABC News." The revisions followed public criticism from Alexa Henning, a spokesperson for 1789 Capital, the venture capital firm where Trump Jr. is a partner. Henning disputed the original report's description of the firm's investments, stating "1789 Capital does not have a 'major stake' in Anduril."

She also challenged the characterization of the Trump brothers' involvement in other companies. The original report had incorrectly attributed a $2.5 billion investment in Anduril to 1789 Capital; that figure represented the company's entire funding round. The revised article specifies that 1789 Capital invested $50 million in defense contractor Anduril, which has been valued at over $60 billion. is not on the three-person committee that makes investment decisions.

Anduril founder Palmer Luckey called on ABC News to correct the article, describing the analysis as totally bogus and stating 1789 Capital's stake was about "1/1000th of the company."