{"id":7071,"date":"2026-08-06T12:30:06","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T12:30:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/?p=7071"},"modified":"2026-08-06T12:30:06","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T12:30:06","slug":"exclusive-emails-reveal-palmer-luckeys-political-fundraising-as-his-company-wins-sole-source-contracts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/?p=7071","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive: Emails reveal Palmer Luckey\u2019s political fundraising as his company wins sole-source contracts"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-gu-name=\"media\" class=\"dcr-14sl0e4\">\n<div class=\"dcr-17l77cs\">\n<figure id=\"5926b31c-9bc9-4762-99c5-e5c2b7d76cc5\" class=\"dcr-191xnya\">\n<div id=\"img-1\" class=\"dcr-1t7hdmw\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"A man with a goatee smiles slightly in a baggy yellow shirt\" src=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/658b690c3f88bf87a1afa7c07e4bad8de1cf30db\/0_0_4000_2669\/master\/4000.jpg?width=465&amp;dpr=1&amp;s=none&amp;crop=none\" width=\"465\" height=\"310.27125\" loading=\"eager\" class=\"dcr-up96pv\"><span class=\"dcr-kogzpx\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-18mnkpm\">\n<div class=\"dcr-1294qmb\"><label for=\"the-checkbox\" class=\"dcr-4sl2vt\"><\/label> <\/p>\n<div id=\"the-caption\"><figcaption data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" class=\"dcr-1mfxiaj\"><span class=\"dcr-13i4yc9\"><\/span><span class=\"dcr-1cipnsy\">Palmer Luckey at Anduril&#8217;s headquarters in Costa Mesa, California, on 10 October 2025.<\/span> Photograph: Kyle Grillot\/Bloomberg via Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/span><a href=\"#img-1\" data-ignore=\"global-link-styling\" class=\"open-lightbox dcr-zwabc0\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><button data-element-id=\"5926b31c-9bc9-4762-99c5-e5c2b7d76cc5\" type=\"button\" class=\"open-lightbox dcr-1bitgpn\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"><span class=\"dcr-1shbixy\">View image in fullscreen<\/span><\/button><\/a><\/div>\n<p><span class=\"dcr-qda0hp\"><figcaption data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" class=\"dcr-1e9iiy9\"><span class=\"dcr-13i4yc9\"><\/span><span class=\"dcr-1cipnsy\">Palmer Luckey at Anduril&#8217;s headquarters in Costa Mesa, California, on 10 October 2025.<\/span> Photograph: Kyle Grillot\/Bloomberg via Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/span><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-gu-name=\"headline\" class=\"dcr-ql9l8l\">\n<div class=\"dcr-6mja0y\">\n<h1 class=\"dcr-l0wuod\">Exclusive: Emails reveal Palmer Luckey\u2019s political fundraising as his company wins sole-source contracts<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-gu-name=\"standfirst\" class=\"dcr-1xpojbf\">\n<div class=\"dcr-1kvrm3n\">\n<p>Co-founder of defense firm Anduril has donated $5.9m to Republicans and bundled more, while reaping billions in Pentagon contracts<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-gu-name=\"body\" class=\"dcr-x1al2c\">\n<div class=\"dcr-11gq2tx\">\n<div id=\"maincontent\" class=\"dcr-1w2vkyc\">\n<div class=\"article-body-commercial-selector article-body-viewer-selector dcr-ogvvui\">\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\"><span style=\"color:var(--drop-cap);font-weight:500\" class=\"dcr-1iwzucl\">W<\/span>ealthy <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/republicans\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">Republicans<\/a> on the west coast received an emailed invitation in July to an upcoming fundraiser titled \u201cKeep the Senate\u201d. The email, obtained by the Guardian, described the event as a \u201cprivate roundtable and dinner with the National Republican Senatorial Committee\u201d where donors can pledge $50,000 for seats at the head table, and mingle with legislative heavy hitters from Capitol Hill including the Senator majority leader, John Thune, and Mike Rogers, who is running for Senate in Michigan with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/donaldtrump\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">Donald Trump<\/a>\u2019s endorsement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">One of the organizers listed on the invite was defense industry tycoon Palmer Luckey, the 33-year-old co-founder of sprawling weapons manufacturer Anduril Industries.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The invitation is one of dozens of emails obtained by the Guardian that unravel Luckey\u2019s vast Maga political fundraising over the last seven years.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"65b2dafe-e4d6-4e53-ae11-36d5c8e595eb\" data-spacefinder-role=\"richLink\" data-spacefinder-type=\"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.RichLinkBlockElement\" class=\"dcr-1oq85qr\">\n<div data-print-layout=\"hide\" data-link-name=\"rich-link-3 | 3\" data-component=\"rich-link\" data-name=\"placeholder\" class=\"dcr-1rx5ky9\">\n<div data-format-theme=\"5\" data-format-design=\"0\" data-format-display=\"0\" class=\"dcr-uyoh2p\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2025\/mar\/29\/move-fast-kill-things-the-tech-startups-trying-to-reinvent-defence-with-silicon-valley-values\" class=\"dcr-f35c0u\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-vvxpdt\">\n<div class=\"dcr-6z6e7\">\n<div class=\"dcr-zh9rih\">Move fast, kill things: the tech startups trying to reinvent defence with Silicon Valley values<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"dcr-oj13vq\">\n<div class=\"dcr-ef9nua\">Read more<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">A longtime GOP donor and activist who spoke on condition he not be identified in order to preserve his political relationshipssaid Luckey is now the \u201cgodfather of Republican fundraising on the west coast\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u201cIf you\u2019re raising campaign money in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/california\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\">California<\/a>, you have to go to Palmer Luckey,\u201d he said. \u201cLuckey is the top tier. There are others who are important below him but no one at his level.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Anduril, launched just nine years ago, has emerged as a major military contractor for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/trump-administration\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\">Trump administration<\/a>, working on contracts for everything from drones to autonomous jet fighters to space-based interceptors.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">In March, the US army awarded a $20bn sole-source contract to Anduril for a variety of drones it sells, though it is not clear which of its weapons systems are operational or have been deployed for combat in US operations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Anduril, though it is not widely known as a space contractor, announced in May it would work, with a team of other companies, on what may be the mother of all contracting opportunities offered by the Trump administration, the so-called <a href=\"https:\/\/www.anduril.com\/news\/anduril-team-of-partners-to-work-on-space-force-s-space-based-interceptors-for-golden-dome-for-america\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">\u201cGolden Dome\u201d anti-missile space-based interceptor effort<\/a>. Estimates for the Golden Dome range between $185bn and $1.2tn.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Much of Anduril\u2019s PR sparkle comes from Luckey. He\u2019s a media darling, profiled on 60 Minutes and in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, which called him the \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/03\/02\/technology\/pentagon-anduril-palmer-luckey.html\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">It Guy of the booming defense-technology industry<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">His offbeat, relaxed attire \u2013 colorful Hawaiian shirts, a chin puff goatee, cargo shorts and flip-flops \u2013 counterintuitively makes him seem more credible.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Luckey is treated by many in the defense industry as a technology prophet and futurist who often holds forth on what he believes to be the true nature of warfare. For example, he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=p5AHRUv6j8k\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">told Axios<\/a><em><\/em>that future wars will be fought in a \u201csubterranean domain\u201d, under the earth\u2019s crust, in underground conflicts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Anduril\u2019s success in winning massive contracts has blossomed with little attention paid to the central role Luckey plays as a donor and fundraising \u201cbundler\u201d for the Republican party. Bundlers hold large fundraisers for candidates or campaign committees and political action groups, and curate high-dollar invite lists for those events.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The emails obtained by the Guardian shed light on Palmer Luckey\u2019s vast GOP political fundraising efforts and activism over the last 10 years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Palmer declined an interview for this piece, writing, \u201cI am not going to help you guys make money,\u201d and did not respond to a detailed list of questions.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"rising-influence\" class=\"dcr-8418j6\">Rising influence<\/h2>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">OpenSecrets, a non-profit that tracks campaign donations, says Federal Election Commission (FEC) records show that Luckey has donated $5.9m to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/republicans\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\">Republicans<\/a> since 2017. While that is a tremendous amount of money for one person to give to politicians, it does not put him in the order of, say, Miriam Adelson, the widow of Sheldon Adelson, who has forked over $100m to Trump\u2019s campaign in 2024.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Luckey doesn\u2019t have her wealth. His real value to GOP politicians exceeds his own donations. He hosts and organizes fundraising events and campaigns for Republicans from the president all the way down to state races.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u201cIf you become a bundler, it just multiplies your influence,\u201d said Brendan Glavin of OpenSecrets. \u201cIt makes you a more important person. You\u2019re bringing in not just your money. You\u2019re bringing other people\u2019s money. It integrates you in the campaign and makes you more important to the candidate than just a donor.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Behind the scenes, Luckey has reached a position in campaign finance and politics that rivals his influence in military contracting, according to two GOP fundraising figures.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The emails, which are a partial list of invitations, show that Luckey has held fundraisers over the last seven years for at least 20 Republican politicians, ranging from Trump to a California attorney general candidate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Just as Luckey has emerged as a major fundraiser on the right, his co-founder, Anduril\u2019s CEO, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/palantir\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\">Palantir<\/a> veteran Brian Schimpf, became a major donor to Democratic causes, albeit on a far smaller scale. So, in time-honored tradition, Anduril\u2019s management ends up donating to both sides of the political aisle, though the vast majority goes towards the GOP. FEC records show Schimpf\u2019s donations at $1.16m over the same period that Luckey gave $5.9m.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">An Anduril official emailed the Guardian: \u201cIt shouldn\u2019t surprise anyone that two executives at the same company have different political views. Like millions of Americans, Brian and Palmer don\u2019t share identical political views.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"a-fundraising-dam-breaks\" class=\"dcr-8418j6\">A fundraising dam breaks<\/h2>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Luckey first became famous in tech before he could legally drink. At 20, in 2012, he launched a Kickstarter that raised more than $2m for a virtual reality gaming headset he said he was building first in his parent\u2019s garage. It was a Silicon Valley Cinderella narrative. Two years later, Facebook became the prince at the ball and paid him $2bn for the company. In 2016, after four years of hype, the first Oculus Rift headset started getting shipped to consumers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">And then, quickly, Luckey seemed to flame out in scandal. The Daily Beast revealed he\u2019d been secretly funding a group dedicated to \u201cshitposting\u201d negative memes about Hillary Clinton.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thedailybeast.com\/palmer-luckey-the-facebook-near-billionaire-secretly-funding-trumps-meme-machine\/\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">We know Hillary Clinton is corrupt, a warmonger, a freedom-stripper<\/a>. Not the good kind you see dancing in bikinis on Independence Day, the bad kind that strips freedom from citizens and grants it to donors,\u201d Luckey had written, under the pseudonym Nimblerichman, on Reddit.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The disclosure had an immense impact, at least for a time. Eight months later Luckey left Facebook, and he later portrayed himself in interviews as simply being canceled for giving money to Republicans, ignoring the main criticisms over the group\u2019s crude and underhanded tactics.<\/p>\n<figure data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" data-spacefinder-type=\"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.NewsletterSignupBlockElement\" class=\"dcr-d9bay7\"><a data-ignore=\"global-link-styling\" href=\"#EmailSignup-skip-link-28\" class=\"dcr-76akua\">skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-1tr4stg\">\n<div class=\"dcr-12qa5gp\">\n<hr class=\"dcr-1cjdlyj\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p id=\"EmailSignup-skip-link-28\" aria-label=\"after newsletter promotion\" role=\"note\" class=\"dcr-76akua\">after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Luckey left Facebook with immense wealth, and in April 2017, just four months after Trump\u2019s first inauguration, he founded Anduril.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">His partners in the venture came from the Peter Thiel-backed Palantir, a company that had long had success in federal contracting through major lobbying and PR battles.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">In June of 2017, his company just two months old, Luckey gave his first ever actual campaign finance donation, to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/ted-cruz\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\">Ted Cruz<\/a>, the senator from Texas. Looking at his subsequent donations, it appears that the dam broke for him. Palmer gave 25 more times to political committees and legislators that year alone, FEC records show, and he has donated on more than a thousand occasions, or, on average, about 100 times every year.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"487edda6-9ae9-400d-bd92-6157e5c55165\" data-spacefinder-role=\"richLink\" data-spacefinder-type=\"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.RichLinkBlockElement\" class=\"dcr-1oq85qr\">\n<div data-print-layout=\"hide\" data-link-name=\"rich-link-32 | 32\" data-component=\"rich-link\" data-name=\"placeholder\" class=\"dcr-1rx5ky9\">\n<div data-format-theme=\"5\" data-format-design=\"0\" data-format-display=\"0\" class=\"dcr-uyoh2p\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/business\/2025\/nov\/28\/tech-submarine-drones-startups-big-defence-companies\" class=\"dcr-f35c0u\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-vvxpdt\">\n<div class=\"dcr-6z6e7\">\n<div class=\"dcr-zh9rih\">\u2018A step-change\u2019: tech firms battle for undersea dominance with submarine drones<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"dcr-oj13vq\">\n<div class=\"dcr-ef9nua\">Read more<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">In the emails shared with the Guardian, the very first fundraising event Luckey co-hosted took place in August of 2017, two months after his donation to Ted Cruz. It was a major effort, and would include GOP House members such as Ken Calvert, Duncan Hunter, Darrell Issa, Devin Nunes, Dana Rohrabacher and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/kevin-mccarthy\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\">Kevin McCarthy<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Then in November, in a separate email chain, Palmer\u2019s name came up again, for the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC). A congressional aide named Jason Pitkin wrote to a party official: \u201cwe are going to be asking people for $33,900 for the NRCC and then after the first of the year we can ask them for $101,700.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Pitkin noted that congressman Rohrabacher had introduced Luckey to Kevin McCarthy, then the powerful house majority leader, \u201cat a Private meeting\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u201cAs you can see by the attached invitation,\u201d Pitkin said, \u201cPalmer is hosting an event for Dana [Rohrabacher] On December 15th. Our understanding is that Palmer was going to contribute $100,000 for the CA Victory event. Please let us know how much more Palmer can give to the NRCC.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Pitkin did not respond to emailed questions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">In July of 2020, just three years after its creation, Anduril won its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/immigration\/trump-virtual-border-wall\/2020\/07\/02\/7b380490-b0ac-11ea-a567-6172530208bd_story.html\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">first mammoth contract<\/a> from the first Trump administration. Customs and Border Protection awarded the young company a contract estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars for surveillance towers on the border.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">And in that period it was clear that Luckey had hit the most senior levels of political access. On 6 October, the emails show, Luckey and his wife hosted Trump himself at a lunch at their waterfront mansion. The stakes were high and so were the tickets. Donors were told that $150,000 would get access to the round table, a VIP reception and event, and a photo op with the president.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">During the Biden years, Anduril still maintained its business efforts targeting <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/us-national-security\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\">US national security<\/a>, and still won contracts. It went on a major acquisition binge, buying up drone companies across the country.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">And Luckey\u2019s fundraising for the GOP continued. The records obtained by the Guardian show that after 2021, Luckey hosted fundraisers for key figures including Tom Cotton, the head of the Senate intelligence committee; Rick Scott, the Republican senator from Florida; Ken Calvert, then the influential ranking member of the House\u2019s defense appropriations subcommittee; and Mike Waltz, now Trump\u2019s UN ambassador and briefly his national security adviser.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Luckey also hosted another event for a future Trump cabinet member: a $50,000-a-plate fundraiser in June 2022for Mehmet Oz, who would later join the Trump administration. That event became scandalous <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jezebel.com\/dr-oz-stood-in-front-of-one-of-hitlers-cars-at-a-fundr-1849630627\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">when Jezebel<\/a> reported the fundraiser incorporated a speech by Oz in front of a car that once belonged to Adolf Hitler. Jezebel pointed out that Luckey\u2019s sister is married to Maga firebrand Matt Gaetz, then a congressman from Florida.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Now that Trump is president, Anduril appears to be taking its turn at the table of the major contractors, amid Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and General Dynamics.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Certainly it has raised extraordinary money. In the latest round, led by Thrive Capital, controlled by Jared Kushner\u2019s brother Joshua, it raised $5bn in venture capital.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Anduril says in Trump\u2019s first year in office it doubled its revenue \u2013 a growth rate of 100%, but still only reached $2.2bn for 2025, which is barely a blip in the Pentagon\u2019s trillion-dollar budget.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Still, the US defense secretary, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/pete-hegseth\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\">Pete Hegseth<\/a>, has twice toured Anduril factories.\u201cPalmer and everyone, thank you so much,\u201d he said last December as he visited Anduril\u2019s factory in Costa Mesa, California, at a giant former industrial site where the Los Angeles Times was once printed. The Anduril factory was \u201cfoundational\u201d to the new Pentagon, Hegseth said.On that tour, Hegseth donned a special helmet designed by Anduril.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">A soldier wearing the helmet would be able to see the outside world not through his eyes but through sensors, as a kind of virtual or \u201caugmented\u201d reality, just like the old Oculus Rift headset Palmer Luckey made his fortune on.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">In his speech, Hegseth referred to \u201cthat cool helmet I just saw that the army might be wearing eventually\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-print-layout=\"hide\" class=\"dcr-swayiu\"><span class=\"dcr-1xhbmzr\">Explore more on these topics<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-2c03t5\">\n<ul class=\"dcr-p7nd18\">\n<li class=\"dcr-r721ee\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/us-national-security\" class=\"dcr-856iwi\">US national security<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-r721ee\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/republicans\" class=\"dcr-856iwi\">Republicans<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-r721ee\"><a href=\"\/science\/weaponstechnology\" class=\"dcr-856iwi\">Weapons technology<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-r721ee\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/trump-administration\" class=\"dcr-856iwi\">Trump administration<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-r721ee\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/donaldtrump\" class=\"dcr-856iwi\">Donald Trump<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-r721ee\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/pete-hegseth\" class=\"dcr-856iwi\">Pete Hegseth<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-r721ee\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/kevin-mccarthy\" class=\"dcr-856iwi\">Kevin McCarthy<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-r721ee\"><a href=\"\/tone\/features\" class=\"dcr-856iwi\">features<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"dcr-313bdz\"><a href=\"mailto:?subject=Exclusive:%20Emails%20reveal%20Palmer%20Luckey%E2%80%99s%20political%20fundraising%20as%20his%20company%20wins%20sole-source%20contracts&amp;body=https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/aug\/06\/exclusive-palmer-luckey-political-fundraising?CMP=share_btn_url\" class=\"dcr-ncybeu\">Share<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-19bkree\"><a data-link-name=\"meta-syndication-article\" href=\"https:\/\/syndication.theguardian.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fus-news%2F2026%2Faug%2F06%2Fexclusive-palmer-luckey-political-fundraising&amp;type=article&amp;internalpagecode=us-news\/2026\/aug\/06\/exclusive-palmer-luckey-political-fundraising\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"Reuse this content\" class=\"dcr-1c41onw\">Reuse this content<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-gu-name=\"right-column\" class=\"dcr-1kq7f60\"><span class=\"dcr-1ryr20k\"><\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Palmer Luckey at Anduril&#8217;s headquarters in Costa Mesa, California, on 10 October 2025. Photograph: Kyle Grillot\/Bloomberg via Getty<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":7073,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7071"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7071\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7074,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7071\/revisions\/7074"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}