Trump-linked venture fund 1789 Capital tops US$1 billion in assets

Until U.S. President Donald Trump’s election, 1789 Capital had a low profile. Now it’s thriving. Its recent deals include investments in three of tech billionaire Elon Musk’s companies: rocket maker SpaceX, artificial intelligence startup xAI, and brain-implant company Neuralink, according to two people with knowledge of 1789 Capital and its deals.

In the months following Donald Trump’s return to the White House, a little-known venture fund with ties to the Trump family quietly crossed a milestone: US$1 billion in assets.

The firm, 1789 Capital, was once a niche experiment that aimed to align equity investing with conservative political values.

This year, it has grown into a financial powerhouse following two strokes of fortune: Trump’s election in November and the addition of his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., as a 1789 partner that same month.

Interviews with people close to the firm, along with financial records, reveal a dramatic expansion in its portfolio to include defense contractors, AI startups and other companies that ethics experts say could benefit from federal contracts and regulatory changes.

Reuters traced the rise of 1789 Capital from its origins as a partnership between Omeed Malik, a former investment banker in New York, and Christopher Buskirk, a once-struggling Arizona businessman who became a confidant of conservative tech billionaire Peter Thiel and Vice President JD Vance. With the addition of Don Jr., the fund has gained extraordinary access to political power.

Until Trump’s election, 1789 Capital had a low profile. Now it’s thriving. Its recent deals include investments in three of tech billionaire Elon Musk’s companies: rocket maker SpaceX, artificial intelligence startup xAI, and brain-implant company Neuralink, according to two people with knowledge of 1789 Capital and its deals.

The deals came together after Malik met Musk during the Trump campaign, the people said.

Many of 1789 Capital’s recent investments have not been previously reported, including a stake in Perplexity AI, an artificial intelligence company, and Juul Labs, the e-cigarette manufacturer. The fund has also backed a series of emerging ventures, including Hadrian, a defense manufacturing startup. The firm’s investments typically range from $5 million to $50 million, the two people said.

The partners also made waves with the opening of a social club in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, DC.

Today, the firm has over $1 billion in assets, thanks to a surge of new investments since Trump’s return to power, according to the two people familiar with 1789 Capital and its deals. That number, which has not been previously reported, marks a major increase from the $150 million the fund had under management last year, according to previous Reuters reporting.

The name 1789 – the year the U.S. Constitution went into effect – evokes the founding of the American republic. The firm describes its mission as “patriotic capitalism,” and its partners have said they want to build a “parallel economy,” a network of businesses, media outlets and political organizations designed to serve, and profit from, the America First movement led by Trump.

A central figure in the birth of this network was Thiel, the billionaire tech investor and major Republican donor.

Thiel helped finance the early stages of Buskirk’s political activism. He poured millions of dollars into a political committee that paid consulting fees to a Buskirk company, campaign and financial records show. Thiel also helped launch Vance’s career in venture capital and introduced him to Buskirk, Reuters previously reported .

Thiel and Vance’s office did not respond to requests for comment for this report.

Reuters has no evidence that 1789 Capital has violated any laws or received preferential treatment.

But four government ethics specialists said 1789 Capital’s structure poses a potential conflict of interest because Don Jr. is both a partner in the firm and the son of a sitting president. The firm’s investments in industries such as defense and technology could benefit from policies shaped by his father’s administration.

If those policies lead to increased government contracts for firms in 1789’s portfolio or deregulation that makes it easier for those firms to profit, the value of 1789’s holdings could rise — directly enriching Don Jr. and the partners through their stakes in 1789 Capital. Experts said foreign investors could seek to invest in 1789 or its holdings to try to gain access to the Trump family and influence in Washington.

“I don’t think the founders would have tolerated this in 1789, that’s the irony of it,” said Richard Painter, the chief White House ethics lawyer under former Republican President George W. Bush.

A person close to Don Jr. said he does not discuss his business interests with his father or ask him for government favors, and that Don “makes that clear” to anyone with whom he does business.

Defenders of Don Jr.’s role in 1789 Capital said that relatives of Democratic politicians have participated in financial ventures without attracting equivalent attention from the media or ethics watchdogs. While governance experts note that in the past other presidential family members have leveraged their name and connections, they say the Trump family’s business activities have no direct comparison in modern U.S. history.

Unlike past presidents, who divested or distanced themselves from their business interests, Trump has retained ownership of a global business empire while allowing close relatives to pursue ventures that leverage his name and benefit from his administration’s policies.

As Trump helps shape the regulatory terrain for digital assets, his family has amassed billions in crypto-related wealth. Last week, a bitcoin company linked to Trump’s two eldest sons saw its stock more than double in value on debut, placing their stake north of $1.5 billion — a windfall that underscores the blurred lines between political power and private gain.

1789 Capital denies it receives any advantage from Don Jr.’s role. “1789 Capital maximizes transparency and compliance, even though no one at the fund has ever worked in government,” a company spokesperson said in a statement.

In an emailed statement, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said it was “irresponsible” for the media to “fabricate conflicts of interest.” “Neither the President nor his family have ever engaged, or will ever engage, in conflicts of interest,” she wrote.

A representative for Don Jr. said there was no conflict of interest stemming from his work with 1789. “Don Jr. is a lifelong businessman who has no role inside the government, no decision making power in the government and has never held a government job,” the representative said.

From debt to dominance

Buskirk’s journey to the heart of MAGA power had a rough start, previously unreported court documents and interviews show.

For over a decade, he struggled with debt and lawsuits from collection companies, according to court records from Maricopa County, Arizona. Those records show that between 2011 and 2015, Buskirk and his wife were sued at least 11 times over unpaid debts — by business partners, debt collection companies, their dry cleaner and others.

At least 10 of the cases ended in judgments after the Buskirks failed to respond to the actions, the records show. In one 2011 case involving a dispute over a solar panel business, Buskirk filed an answer denying the debt. An arbitrator awarded a $7,190 judgment against Buskirk.

In five of the cases, Buskirk eventually paid off the debts, records show, usually years after the judgments were filed. It was unclear from the court records Reuters reviewed whether the debts were paid in the six other cases.

Buskirk said in a statement that Reuters was focusing on “decade-old personal disputes” over “trivial” amounts of money. “ Although long since resolved, they demonstrate only that, when necessary, I stand on principle and fight for what’s right – just as I have done in all my business ventures," Buskirk said. His biography on the 1789 website says he has founded and sold “multiple finance businesses,” including in the insurance and speciality lending industries.

Buskirk did not respond to specific questions about the legal cases or his ties with Thiel.

Buskirk’s wife, Gina, did not respond to a request for comment.

A turning point came for Buskirk in 2016, the year of Trump’s rise to power.

Buskirk and a small group of associates launched the Center for American Greatness, a nonprofit that operates the conservative website American Greatness. The site quickly gained traction as a platform for pro-Trump commentary, helping elevate Buskirk’s profile within Republican circles. The site features opinion pieces, political analysis and cultural critiques aimed at challenging mainstream narratives and promoting pro-Trump populist themes.

“The idea behind it was to give an intellectual backing for the America First movement,” the Trump-led populist wave that reshaped the Republican Party, Seth Leibsohn, a Phoenix radio host who worked with Buskirk in the website’s early days, said in an interview.

Much of the early financial backing for American Greatness came from Thiel, the PayPal co-founder and self-described libertarian who was then making headlines as Silicon Valley’s most prominent tech investor to publicly support Trump, according to sources familiar with the origins of the web magazine.

Buskirk’s role as publisher of American Greatness helped launch him as a conservative commentator. He became a frequent presence in mainstream media, offering analysis on Trump’s appeal in interviews with NPR, PBS, MSNBC, CNN and the Washington Post. He told NPR in 2017 that the old left-right divisions in American politics had become obsolete. “Maybe the divide,” he said, “is between Washington and the rest of the country.”

In 2019, Buskirk and Vance co-founded the Rockbridge Network, a Silicon Valley-backed donor organization. By 2022, Buskirk had transformed from a struggling entrepreneur into a political insider with growing influence. Buskirk’s consulting firm provided services that supported Blake Masters, a Republican U.S. Senate candidate backed by Thiel. He also helped raise $45 million to support Trump’s 2024 campaign through an outside super PAC spending group called Turnout for America, according to Federal Election Commission filings.

Between April 2021 and June this year, two Buskirk consulting firms, Timoleon LLC and Telperion LLC, received nearly $3.8 million from various political groups, according to a Reuters tally based on FEC filings.

A spokesperson for Thiel did not respond to requests for comment about Thiel’s history with Buskirk, his support for American Greatness, or 1789 Capital.

From Manhattan to MAGA world

While Buskirk was building ties to the MAGA movement, Malik, the former investment banker, was climbing the ranks of New York’s financial industry. A law school graduate and former aide to a Democratic congressman from New Jersey, he rose to a senior role at Bank of America, overseeing a division serving hedge fund clients.

In July 2018, Malik reached a settlement with Bank of America after he was fired earlier that year, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Malik alleged in a complaint filed with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority – Wall Street’s self-regulatory body — that he was dismissed in retaliation for whistleblowing about a supervisor’s lack of appropriate regulatory licensing and was subjected to discrimination and defamation, the person said. According to a separate FINRA filing made by the bank and reviewed by Reuters, his departure followed an internal investigation into alleged misconduct and interference with the firm’s review of the incident — allegations Malik denied.

Bank of America declined to comment on the misconduct allegations or the specific details of any settlement.

The next year, Malik donated $11,200 to support Trump’s presidential campaign, a month after contributing $2,800 to the Democratic campaign of former President Joe Biden.

In 2020, Malik and Don Jr. co-authored an op-ed for the right-wing website Daily Caller, co-founded by commentator Tucker Carlson, lambasting corporate America for its “willful blindness and dogmatic adherence to free trade with China.”

In 2021, Malik moved to Palm Beach, home to Trump’s resort-turned-headquarters at Mar-a-Lago and the gravitational center of the MAGA movement. Trump was now out of office, and what had once been a playground for the ultra-wealthy was now doubling as a staging ground for his attempt to return to power and a networking center for the new Trump-dominant right. In Palm Beach, Malik met Buskirk, who was backing a tech investor then considered a political longshot: Vance.

By April 2022, Vance – now a protégé of Thiel and buoyed by the technologist’s campaign cash – was mounting what would be a successful run for a U.S. Senate seat in Ohio. That month, Vance hosted a modest fundraiser in Palm Beach. Among the attendees: Malik and Don Jr.

“Patriotic capitalism”

In 2023, Buskirk and Malik announced they had launched 1789 Capital, based in Palm Beach. Malik was listed in an SEC filing as president, with partners Buskirk and Rebekah Mercer, daughter of hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer and a prominent donor to conservative political causes. Contacted for comment through the family’s foundation, Rebekah Mercer did not respond.

Their pitch to investors was “patriotic capitalism” — a MAGA-aligned investment strategy that rejects environmental, social and governance principles in favor of ideological alignment with Trump’s base of voters. 1789 only takes minority positions in private U.S. companies, the two individuals familiar with the firm said.

However, 1789 is open to accepting foreign investors, including sovereign wealth funds, provided they originate from what the group considers “pro-American” countries, according to the two people familiar with 1789 Capital and its deals. The group does not publicly disclose its investors.

One of the company’s first high-profile investments was in Tucker Carlson’s Last Country Inc, a media company that champions pro-Trump values. In March, the firm bought out 1789’s stake and its other investors, Last Country co-founder Neil Patel told Reuters. Patel declined to provide financial specifics.

Malik’s business relationship with Don Jr. expanded in 2023. That year, a special-purpose acquisition company — a shell firm designed to raise capital and merge with private businesses – owned by Malik acquired a stake in PSQ Holdings, where Don Jr. was an investor. PSQ owns PublicSquare, an online marketplace whose website says it serves “consumers and business owners who cherish family values and God-given liberty.” It has described its mission as building a conservative alternative to Amazon.

On July 20, 2023, Don Jr., in a blue suit and light blue tie, stood between his then-girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle, and Malik on the balcony overlooking the floor of the New York Stock Exchange as PSQ went public. “USA! USA! USA!” they all chanted, as Malik clapped Don Jr., on the shoulder.

“People are sick and tired of this woke shit,” Don Jr. wrote on X in June 2024. “It’s why I’m an investor and such a big believer in” PublicSquare. PublicSquare did not respond to a request for comment.

In May last year, as Trump faced a fraud trial in New York, Malik co-hosted a fundraiser for Trump at Manhattan’s posh Pierre Hotel, a sign of the investor’s growing influence. That same year, Malik – once an early backer of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — played a behind-the-scenes role in brokering Kennedy’s endorsement of Trump, Reuters previously reported. The moves marked another turning point: Malik was no longer circling the orbit of MAGA politics; he was now a fixture within it.

Junior ascendant

In November, days after his father won the presidential election, Don Jr. joined Malik’s venture firm, 1789 Capital, as a partner. By early 2025, a new class of MAGA-aligned business elites was beginning to take shape.

Among them were Malik, Buskirk and Don Jr. On January 15, just ahead of Trump’s second inauguration, the trio joined high-dollar donors at Le Bilboquet, a marble-lined bistro in Palm Beach, for a $250,000-a-plate fundraiser honoring Vance. The event marked the growing overlap between conservative politics, private investment and executive-branch influence, and boosted 1789 Capital’s prominence in a network of donors, entrepreneurs and political allies reshaping the U.S. business landscape.

Don Jr. now holds positions in at least two companies backed by 1789 Capital, including as an adviser at betting site Polymarket and as a board member at online pharmacy BlinkRx.

His primary role at 1789 is identifying attractive investments, said one of the people with knowledge of 1789 Capital.

That person said Don Jr. led the firm’s investment in Happy Dad LLC, a seltzer company co-founded by Kyle Forgeard, a member of conservative influencers the Nelk Boys, who helped turn out voters for Trump in the 2024 election. Happy Dad and Forgeard did not answer questions about 1789’s investment.

Malik, Buskirk and Don Jr. also helped launch in April the Executive Branch, a private club tucked beneath a Georgetown condo building in Washington, D.C., with membership fees reaching $500,000. Though not formally part of 1789 Capital, the club has drawn scrutiny for its exclusivity and political ties. Its backers say it was created to offer a private space for conservative allies to gather without media scrutiny, claiming there is a lack of Republican-friendly venues in the city.

Executive Branch’s other co-owners and founding members include Trump’s crypto czar David Sacks; billionaire twins and crypto executives Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss; and Alex and Zach Witkoff, the sons of Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff, who oversees a crypto business with the Trump family. Sacks, the Winklevoss brothers and the Witkoff brothers did not respond to requests for comment.

“There’s no getting around the appearance” that the club “is creating private access to the administration,” said Ann Skeet, senior director of leadership ethics at a Santa Clara University ethics institute.

A spokesperson for Don Jr. declined to comment about criticism over potential ethical issues stemming from the club. An Executive Branch spokesperson dismissed any suggestion of a conflict of interest as “laughable,” noting no sitting members of Congress are members.

The Trump administration’s deregulatory agenda and policy shifts have benefited at least three companies backed by 1789 Capital. However, Reuters could not determine whether 1789’s investments — or any negotiations preceding them — played a role in those outcomes.

Federal authorities dropped two investigations into Polymarket, a blockchain-based betting platform backed by 1789 Capital, according to CEO Shayne Coplan, who said on X in July that the company had been cleared of any wrongdoing. The probes — one criminal and one civil — were initiated under the Biden administration and focused on whether Polymarket had allowed U.S.-based users to place bets on the outcome of the 2024 presidential election, in violation of federal restrictions on election wagering.

Polymarket’s bets gained attention for strongly favoring Trump to win the 2024 election. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission had previously penalized the company in 2022 for operating unregistered markets. In November, federal agents searched Coplan’s home, seizing his phone and electronics. Polymarket denied wrongdoing and said the investigations were politically motivated.

Polymarket declined to comment on 1789’s investment and the probes. The Trump administration did not respond to a request for comment on regulatory changes affecting Polymarket.

Separately, in July, the Food and Drug Administration authorized the sale of Juul Labs’ e-cigarette device and refill cartridges in tobacco and menthol flavors, after years of regulatory scrutiny. The FDA’s decision was seen as offering a new lease of life to the vape maker, which narrowly avoided bankruptcy in 2022 amid a regulatory clash over whether its products could remain on the U.S. market.

A Juul spokesperson said 1789 Capital invested in the company in March, taking a stake valued at roughly $5 million. The spokesperson declined to comment on whether the company received any political benefit from the investment.

Meanwhile, Trump has signaled plans to remove regulatory barriers to artificial intelligence development – a shift from the Biden administration’s more cautious approach. San Francisco-based Perplexity AI, among the leading startups attempting to uproot the search engine market dominated by Alphabet’s Google, said in a statement to Reuters that it does not receive “political benefits” from any of its investors, which include 1789.

(Additional reporting by Aram Roston. Editing by Jason Szep)