Company told Committee staff it got no special treatment; ProPublica revealed the $620 million Pentagon loan was the result of direct White House intervention
Washington, D.C. — Today, Rep. Robert Garcia, Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and Rep. Jared Huffman, Ranking Member of the Committee on Natural Resources, sent a letter to 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 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.
Background
In February 2026, Ranking Members Garcia, Huffman, and Heinrich opened a formal congressional inquiry 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.
###