ABC News has come under scrutiny following its publication of a revised report concerning President Donald Trump’s sons and a defense-spending project. The network’s initial story, published last Wednesday, connected Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump to a government contract involving Anduril Industries, a defense technology company. After widespread criticism and its temporary removal, ABC News re-published the article on Friday night with a correction, prompting a call for federal investigation into the network’s journalistic practices.
"ABC News’s hit piece appears to have been nothing more than pure propaganda designed to disparage the Trump family and poison public perception of Anduril Industries." Senator Bernie Moreno, Republican of Ohio.
The original ABC News report, according to a letter from Republican Senator Bernie Moreno of Ohio, claimed that Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump "had secured more than $6 billion in active or promised government contracts." The report specifically highlighted an investment in Anduril Industries by 1789 Capital, a firm with ties to Trump Jr. This narrative gained significant attention, especially as President Trump had recently announced that Anduril would receive a $6.6 billion contract to "create a state-of-the-art shipyard in Maryland."
However, the initial report faced immediate backlash, leading ABC News to take it down from its platforms with minimal explanation. The story had already circulated widely across social media, sparking debate and accusations of journalistic impropriety. Upon its restoration, the revised version included a correction stating that the original "contained errors in the description of certain company investments, government contracts and event chronologies."
Senator Moreno, in a letter sent Saturday to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr, urged the commission to investigate ABC News’s handling of the report. Moreno characterized the original story as "false, inflammatory, and deliberately malicious." He specifically targeted the claim that President Trump's sons were major investors in Anduril or had influenced its investment decisions, calling it "an outright lie."
"You would expect such a comically botched cover-up in Soviet Russia, not the United States of America," Moreno wrote in his letter to Carr, emphasizing the perceived severity of the network's actions. He further stated, "ABC News’s hit piece appears to have been nothing more than pure propaganda designed to disparage the Trump family and poison public perception of Anduril Industries." Moreno's letter asks the FCC, which oversees broadcast licensing and regulates ABC’s stations, to examine the network's editorial process and its decision to remove and revise the story.
Palmer Luckey, co-founder of Anduril Industries, also publicly confronted an ABC News truck and its reporters regarding the network’s coverage of his company. Luckey reportedly published several posts online disputing the story’s assertions. He indicated that he was unable to get the reporters to acknowledge any wrongdoing during their interaction.
Adding to the chorus of criticism, Andrew Kolvet, a spokesman for Turning Point USA, weighed in on social media platform X. He accused ABC News of applying a double standard regarding accountability for its reporting. "If a so-called news organization refuses to retract and notate erroneous, inaccurate reporting that could significantly damage the lives and reputation of the subjects of said reporting, are they even a news org?" Kolvet questioned in a post on October 10, 2026.
This recent dispute is not an isolated incident in the history between ABC News and President Donald Trump. In December 2024, following President Trump’s re-election, ABC paid $15 million to settle a lawsuit he had filed earlier that year. That settlement amount was earmarked for his presidential library fund. The lawsuit stemmed from remarks made by ABC anchor George Stephanopoulos, who had previously served as a campaign surrogate for Bill Clinton. Stephanopoulos had claimed President Trump was convicted of rape in a trial brought by E. Jean Carroll. A Manhattan jury, however, found President Trump guilty of assault in that case, a charge that carries a much lower evidentiary threshold under New York law compared to rape. Carroll's suit concerned an alleged encounter decades prior, with New York's legislature having passed a temporary pause on its statute of limitations to enable her filing.
Senator Moreno’s letter to FCC Chairman Carr now awaits review, potentially initiating a federal inquiry into the editorial practices and conduct of a major national news organization. The outcome could have implications for media accountability and regulatory oversight in the United States.
