Senate Finance Committee Democrats say the Trump administration’s recent $1.6 billion rare earth deal raises a possible conflict of interest given the involvement of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s former firm, Cantor Fitzgerald.
Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the committee’s ranking member, along with Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland argued in a letter to Lutnick on Wednesday that the deal stands to enrich his immediate family and pointed to the involvement of the firm that Lutnick used to chair and is now led by his sons.
“We have serious concerns about the Commerce Department’s decision to enter this deal in which your former firm, run by your sons, has a clear financial interest,” the senators wrote.
At issue is the Trump administration’s announced intent to take an equity stake and inject the largest amount to date — $1.6 billion — into USA Rare Earth, an Oklahoma-based company angling to build a rare earth mine and magnet supply chain outside of China.
