MAGA-Friendly CNBC Star Confronts Trump Goon on Awkward Deal

CNBC Trump-friendly CNBC host Joe Kernen has cornered Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick about an eyebrow-raising deal being probed as a possible conflict of interest.

The deal is a $1.6 billion federal investment in USA Rare Earth.

Lutnick’s former financial firm, Cantor Fitzgerald, now run by his sons, was selected to help raise the private capital needed to close the deal—and now it is drawing criticism from conservatives like Kernen.

Kernen said the deal appeared to be a conflict of interest.

He asked Lutnick to address accusations that he influenced a transaction that benefited his sons, Brandon and Kyle Lutnick, who were named chairman and executive vice chairman of Cantor Fitzgerald in May 2025.

“Your sons are now running Cantor, and there was a PIPE financing deal done where, to get, I think, the financing from the Commerce Department, Cantor was involved with raising some of the equity, and obviously they get a fee,” he said on Squak Box.

“So the perception is that you’re sitting now at Commerce and you’re able to control what Cantor is getting in terms of fees with your sons running that company.” He continued, “It looks like a conflict of interest.

How do you respond to that?” Lutnick, 65, whom Forbes estimates is worth $6.5 billion, said he had no idea Cantor was involved in the deal.

He said the deal came to fruition because the U.S. needs to be more aggressive on rare-earth minerals in order to combat China.

Lutnick then tried to brush off the accusations, saying they were unimportant because he was no longer part of Cantor Fitzgerald.

“My kids bought it from me,” he said of his ex-company.

“They own it, and I had nothing to do with that decision, and this is minor stuff anyway.

You know that I am well-to-do.

I don’t worry about this kind of stuff.