ABC News could face significant consequences as the venture capital firm at the center of a botched report about the Trump family ponders legal action.
“We still have our attorneys completely plugged into this, and we’re not taking options off the table because they can’t get away with writing completely false things and hit jobs,” 1789 Capital spokesperson Alexa Henning told Fox News Digital.
“We’re not going to back down,” she continued. “We’re gonna keep calling them out and make sure that people know the truth.”
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Henning’s comments followed ABC News’ shocking decision to delete a report examining alleged investments tied to President Donald Trump’s adult children, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., without explanation, only to republish a cleaned-up version days later. The original article claimed companies connected to the president’s sons had secured billions in government contracts, including through venture capital firm 1789 Capital, but was hit with significant criticism.
The controversy centered on ABC News’ original claim that 1789 Capital, where Trump Jr. serves as a partner, acquired a major stake in defense contractor Anduril Industries through a $2.5 billion investment. The figure instead represented Anduril’s broader fundraising round, while 1789 Capital’s investment was approximately $50 million.
The original report, which remains accessible through the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine, was published under the headline, “Trump sons’ investments have won billions in Pentagon contracts since his election.”
ABC News republished a substantially revised article Friday, acknowledging errors involving investments, government contracts and the chronology of events. The updated version also clarified that Trump Jr. does not serve on the firm’s investment decision-making committee. The new headline reads, “New shipyard announced amid earlier Democratic concerns about potential conflicts of interest,” though the original reporter’s byline was replaced with “ABC News.”
The ordeal has shocked the media industry, with observers pondering what went wrong and why ABC deleted the initial version without a clear explanation. Henning said there was “no evidence” the Trumps did anything wrong, but the false version of the story went viral on social media and was shared by high-profile Democrats, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
While the updated story features an editor’s note admitting “errors,” it does not explain what the errors were or apologize to 1789. Henning said the outcome is not “sufficient.”
She wants ABC News to explain the truth to its audience and noted that “ABC has a long history of doing this to the president and his family.”
Trump famously agreed to a $16 million settlement to resolve a defamation lawsuit against ABC News in 2024 after anchor George Stephanopoulos falsely stated that Trump had been found liable for “rape.”
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Henning has said that nobody from ABC News asked 1789 for comment prior to the initial story being published and that an ABC News journalist “vigorously defended” the report before it was suddenly deleted.
“If you don’t understand investments in venture capital growth, you shouldn’t be reporting on it,” she said. “When you’re a reporter, you should want to understand what you’re reporting on.”
She also objected to reporters who cover the media industry insisting that sources familiar with the situation claimed the initial story was simply “published prematurely.”
“I knew that was also a lie because that was not told to me the day the story went up — the editor fully stood by it … they know they were wrong. They just don’t want to admit it,” Henning said.
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Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, called on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to investigate what led to the erroneous report. Henning believes a combination of “laziness” and wanting to get a “good hit on the Trump family” resulted in the false report being published in the first place.
“They just didn’t think they would get push back,” Henning said.
Henning said she has heard from “multiple people inside ABC” who privately acknowledge this was a “huge mess up.”
“This story was just false on the facts,” she said.
“Our lawyers have been in touch with ABC and Disney,” Henning added. “We’re still monitoring the coverage and still monitoring what they say, so we’ll see [about a lawsuit].”
ABC News did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Fox News Digital’s Joseph A. Wulfsohn and Julia Bonavita contributed to this report.
