ABC News published an "analysis" claiming that defense companies "backed by" Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump had raked in more than $6 billion in government contracts. The story named Anduril Industries, Vulcan Elements, Firehawk Aerospace, and PsiQuantum as companies the Trump sons were supposedly steering Pentagon money toward. It was live for less than 24 hours before ABC quietly deleted the entire thing.
No editor's note. No correction. No explanation. Just gone.
The original piece attempted to tie a $6.6 billion Anduril Industries investment announced by President Trump to 1789 Capital, a venture capital firm where Donald Trump Jr. is listed as one of six partners. ABC claimed 1789 Capital held a "major stake" in Anduril dating back to a $2.5 billion investment round in June 2025, and that 135 government contracts had been awarded to Anduril. The implication was clear: the president's sons were personally enriching themselves through Pentagon deals.
The problem was that none of it held up.
The problem for ABC is that people aren't falling for their bs anymore...Users immediately pointed out ABC's double speak and misinformation...
Donald Trump Jr. put it more simply: "ABC deleted this article in less than 24 hours because it's false."
The speed of the collapse is the story. ABC didn't issue a retraction with updated language. They didn't walk back a single claim while preserving the rest. They vaporized the whole article — which tells you it wasn't a matter of sloppy wording or a disputed characterization. The foundational claims were wrong. The ownership stakes were wrong. The connections were fabricated or wildly overstated.
This is the same ABC News that paid $15 million to settle a defamation lawsuit with Trump in 2024. The same network that has cycled through credibility crises the way most organizations cycle through office supplies. And somehow the editorial process still couldn't catch that the central premise of a major investigative piece was verifiably false before it went to air.
The pattern is familiar enough to have its own rhythm by now. A legacy outlet publishes an explosive story about the Trump family. Social media amplifies it. Pundits cite it on-air within the hour. Then someone with actual knowledge of the subject matter responds with receipts, and the whole thing disintegrates. The retraction — if it comes at all — arrives at a whisper while the original allegation traveled at a scream.
ABC didn't even manage a whisper this time. They just hit delete and hoped nobody would notice.
They came for the sons with a story about billions in Pentagon contracts. The story lasted fewer hours than a news cycle. The article is gone, but the screenshots aren't.