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event strategies 1/6 Justin Caporale

FREEDOm 250 FUCKERY

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off bs

afpi nestline? academy of achievement

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524 King St. Alexandria, VA 22314(703) 403-3173contact@teamesi.com

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lacivita

arlington National Cemetery incident

On August 27, 2024, an incident occurred at Arlington National Cemetery in which two Trump staffers, Justin Caporale and Michel Picard, shoved a female cemetery employee who was trying to stop the Trump team from photographing and filming a campaign promotion in a heavily restricted area of the cemetery known as Section 60, which is primarily reserved for veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. A federal law prohibits the use of U.S. military facilities, cemeteries in particular, for political campaigns.[64]

LaCivita called the cemetery employee a “despicable individual”[65] and, in response to a rebuke from the U.S. Army, posted a video on Twitter "hoping to trigger the hacks” at the Office of the Army Secretary.[66]

li no info 8 26

Event Strategies, Inc. | LinkedIn

Website

https://teamesi.com

Industry

Events Services

Company size

11-50 employees

49 associated members LinkedIn members who’ve listed Event Strategies, Inc. as their current workplace on their profile.

Headquarters

Alexandria, VA

Founded

2000

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factually

1. Event production and on-the-ground logistics: who was paid and why

Records and reporting show Event Strategies Inc., the firm run by Justin Caporale (identified as the campaign’s advance director) and Tim Unes (the rally stage manager), was paid by the Trump campaign and joint fundraising committees for event production, staffing, scheduling and stage management related to the rallies that culminated in the January 6 demonstration; the firm was named on the permit for the Ellipse event and its principals are listed among operations managers tied to that permit [1] [6] [7].

2. Dollar totals tied to Event Strategies — numbers that are clear and numbers that are not

Different outlets and campaign-finance trackers put the amounts in overlapping but not identical frames: Newsweek reported Event Strategies received more than $1.7 million from the re-election campaign and joint fundraising committee [1], while OpenSecrets and other trackers calculate the broader Trump political operation paid Event Strategies more than $2.5 million starting in 2020, with roughly $800,000 of that flowing from Save America and related PACs in 2021 — figures that capture payments beyond the immediate pre‑Jan. 6 window [2] [4].

3. American Made Media Consultants: a clearinghouse for media buys and SMS

AMMC functioned as an internal clearinghouse for ads, mobile services and other media-related spending; reporting shows the Trump campaign and joint fundraising committee routed enormous sums through AMMC during the 2020 cycle — reported as roughly $769–771 million — and that some of those line items included SMS/text messaging and mobile-app disbursements, with specific entries tied to Jan. 6 texting [4] [8] [5].

4. The Jan. 6 text-message line item and what was invoiced

OpenSecrets and contemporaneous press reporting identify a discrete payment into AMMC for text messaging on Jan. 6: roughly $222,000 was routed by the Trump joint fundraising committee to AMMC for SMS operations tied to that day, and FEC‑linked documents list disbursements to AMMC described as “SMS,” supporting the conclusion that AMMC invoiced the campaign for large-scale texting services around January 6 [3] [5] [2].

5. Allegations, defenses and the remaining opacity

Campaign Legal Center and other watchdogs have accused the campaign of using AMMC and related entities to obscure who was ultimately paid — a complaint that alleges laundering or improper routing of hundreds of millions through shell companies — while campaign sources have said AMMC was created to buy ads directly and eliminate middlemen; the reporting establishes the routing and specific line items (event production, stage management, SMS, media buys) but also documents unanswered questions about the ultimate recipients and precise invoicing details for many transactions [8] [9] [10].

6. What can be stated with confidence — and what cannot

It is verifiable from public reporting and disclosed disbursements that Event Strategies billed for event production and logistics tied to rallies and that AMMC billed for media services including SMS (with a reported ~$222,000 SMS entry for Jan. 6), and that Event Strategies received at least $1.7 million and possibly upwards of $2.5 million from Trump-related committees over the period in question; beyond those line-item descriptions, investigators and reporters continue to note gaps in the public record about exact invoices, beneficiaries behind AMMC’s pass‑throughs and the full ledger of pre‑ and post‑Jan. 6 payments [1] [2] [3] [4] [7].

AccurateInaccurateReport

Want to dive deeper?

What do FEC filings and subpoenas produced to date reveal about the invoices AMMC submitted for ad buys and SMS in late 2020 and January 2021?

Which individuals at Event Strategies and AMMC were named on the January 6 permit and what were their specific roles and pay records?

What legal or regulatory findings have resulted from Campaign Legal Center and other complaints alleging that AMMC and related entities masked campaign spending?

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It’s a bad day for a marketplace backed by the Trump family, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Online marketplace PublicSquare, created as a MAGA-aligned alternative with Donald Trump Jr.’s backing, is now facing severe financial difficulties and a 99 percent collapse in its share price, according to BGNES.

“Despite initial expectations, the conservative marketplace failed to gain traction, resulting in cumulative losses of nearly $160 million from the start of its stock trading in 2023 through the end of July this year,” reports BGNES.

Trump Jr. lauded the company's debut on the New York Stock Exchange in 2023 as an “anti-woke marketplace” aimed at conservative, “patriotic and religious consumers.” But apparently the market and investors didn’t think much of politics. The business model soon unraveled, leaving the company at risk of being delisted.

This year, PublicSquare announced that it was abandoning e-commerce in favor of financial technology, including cutting 41 percent of its workforce and cancelling a streaming program.

And, typically, of many star-driven business, BGNES reports company's financial difficulties are linked to princely consultancy costs.

“Since 2024, shortly after Donald Trump won the presidential election, the West Palm Beach, Florida-based company had been paying Trump Jr. $42,000 a month in consultancy fees. Last year, the president’s son earned more than the company's then-chief executive, while in 2025 he received more than $500,000,” reports BGNES.

“Former Trump administration official Nick Ayers and a firm run by Trump Jr. ally Omeed Malik also received hundreds of thousands of dollars in consultancy fees.”

According to financial filings, the company’s net losses have “significantly exceeded revenue” — $57.6 million in 2024 and $36.6 million in 2025.

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//NRA expose?

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/jan-6-committee-zeroes-in-on-trump-e2-80-99s-big-lie-fundraising

zoe takes lead;

no lnx

the Jan. 6 committee spent most of its second hearing Monday picking apart Trump’s relentless lies about the 2020 election outcome — lies he pursued despite findings from both his campaign staff and government investigators that the election results were legitimate.

But Monday’s hearing ended with an interesting change of topic: The panel zeroed in on Trump’s fundraising. Specifically, the committee found, Trump lied to his base in order to raise millions of dollars, and then used that money to pursue his own political and personal ends.

According to the committee’s senior investigative counsel Amanda Wick, it went like this: After Trump lost the 2020 election — and even after the “safe harbor date” that usually spells the end of election lawsuits —Trump and his campaign pursued a fundraising strategy based around a so-called “Election Integrity Fund”: A fund that they told donors would help “PROTECT THE INTEGRITY OF OUR ELECTION” in dozens of emails over several weeks.

But the Election Integrity Fund didn’t exist: Gary Coby, the campaign’s former digital director, agreed during a deposition that it was a “marketing tactic.” And the tactic worked: The committee found that Trump and his allies raised nearly $100 million in the first week after the election.

On Nov. 9, Trump created the “Save America PAC.” Wick said most of the money for the “Election Defense Fund” went to that account. And that PAC, in turn, made millions in donations to Trump-aligned groups: $1 million to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows’ charitable foundation, $1 million to the America First Policy Institute, which employed several former Trump administration officials, $204,857 to the Trump Hotel Collection, and over $5 million to Event Strategies Inc., the company that ran Trump’s White House Ellipse rally — the event that preceded the Capitol attack. 

The campaign sent fundraising emails regularly, including one about 30 minutes before the Capitol was breached, Wick said.

...

open secrets

former President Donald Trump’s political operation reported paying more than $4.3 million to people and firms that organized the Jan. 6 rally since the start of the 2020 election. However, questions remain about the full extent of the Trump campaign’s involvement in the “Save America” rally on the day of the Capitol attack as a House select committee’s sweeping requests attempt to shine some light on that day’s events.

On Friday, the U.S. House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol sent letters requesting information from 15 social media companies. On Aug. 25, the select committee sent requests to federal agencies for records related to the riot.

The letters ask agencies from the National Archives and Records Administration to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice to expedite the gathering of the records, asking for information within two-weeks.

The House subpoena names Caroline Wren, a veteran GOP fundraiser who received at least $170,000 from the Trump political operation as the campaign’s national finance consultant with the joint fundraising committee. Wren was listed as a “VIP Advisor” on the permit granted by the National Park Service for the Jan. 6 rally.

Megan Powers, one of two operations managers listed on the rally permit, is not listed in the House request but was paid around $300,000 as the Trump campaign’s director of operations. And Make America Great Again PAC paid around $20,000 more to Powers for “recount administrative consulting” in 2021.

None of the other former Trump campaign officials listed on the permit for the rally on Jan. 6 are listed in the initial requests.

The House select committee did request records related to Women for Trump initiative co-chair  Gina Loudon, who spoke at the rally. The committee also requested records related to Amy Kremer, who notably co-founded Women for America First, the 501(c)(4) nonprofit “dark money” group that submitted the rally’s permit records to the National Park Service.

The select committee also requested letters related to Dustin Stockton, a co-organizer of the rally. Stockton was also a spokesperson for WeBuildtheWall when former White House strategist Steve Bannon and three others affiliated with the dark money group were charged with fraud related to the online fundraising effort. Stockton was not charged and records related to Bannon were requested by the House select committee.

Stockton and Kremer told ProPublica that they felt they needed to “urgently warn the White House of the possible danger” posed by the rally. They initially took their concerns to Katrina Pierson, a former Trump campaign spokesperson who reportedly served as a liaison between the White House and rally organizers, but after “feeling that they weren’t gaining enough traction” Stockton claims she and Kremer agreed to call White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. However, Kremer denies that she spoke with Meadows or any other White House official about Jan. 6 concerns.

Records requested by the House select committee could shine light on claims about those encounters as well as other outstanding questions about the extent of the Trump campaign’s involvement.

But since Trump’s campaign and joint fundraising committee funneled millions of dollars through layers of opaque firms and shell companies where the ultimate payee is hidden, the public may never know the full extent of the Trump campaign’s payments to organizers involved in the protests.

Trump’s 2020 campaign and joint fundraising committee, the Trump Make America Great Again Committee, spent more than $771 million through American Made Media Consultants LLC during the 2020 election cycle. OpenSecrets data shows Trump’s joint fundraising committee routed another $685,000 through the secretive limited-liability company in 2021 with around $222,000 of that going to text messaging on Jan. 6. 

The Federal Election Commission generally does not require campaigns to detail payments vendors make to subcontractors as long as the subcontractor does not work under the direction or control of the campaign and the campaign does not have undue influence over the vendor.

But the role campaign aides and members of Trump’s inner circle played in creating the limited-liability company as a “clearinghouse” to pay vendors, concealing details of millions of dollars in the campaign’s transactions, raises the question of whether it was truly separate from the campaign.

The full roster of people working for Trump’s campaign remains hidden from the public and details of those payments, such as the nature of services provided and the amount of money changing hands, are shrouded in mystery.

The nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center filed an FEC complaint alleging that Trump’s 2020 political operation may have violated federal election law by concealing details of the campaign’s financial dealings.

Recent campaign finance records reviewed by OpenSecrets show Trump’s political operation continued to pay Event Strategies Inc., a firm named in a permit for the rally where two of the rally organizers worked. The firm received payments from Trump aligned super PAC Make America Great Again Action as recently as Aug. 13, FEC records filed Aug. 26 show.

Trump’s political operation paid Event Strategies more than $2.5 million since the start of the 2020 election with around $800,000 of that coming from Trump’s Save America leadership PAC and Make America Great Again Action super PAC in 2021.

Event Strategies is not the only vendor with Trump ties the Make America Great Again Action super PAC reported paying in its new FEC disclosure filed Aug. 26.

On July 15, the Make America Great Again Action super PAC paid $128,125 to Forward Strategies, a firm run by professional fundraiser Meredith O’Rourke, who was reportedly subpoenaed in federal prosecutors’ probe of longtime Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani. The super PAC also paid Red Elephant Strategy, a consulting firm run by Brian Walsh. He was president of America First Policies, the dark money arm of America First Action,Trump’s one-time super PAC of choice and a roughly $1.8 million donor to Make America Great Again Action.

Red Eagle Media Group, a firm that funneled money from Trump’s campaign to shell companies tied to ad buyers at the center of an alleged illegal coordination scheme with the National Rifle Association and America First Action during the 2020 election cycle, received payments from the super PAC as well.

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2X? AN 2026

The Trump administration is illegally using the Social Security email list to spew political propaganda. That email list likely includes everyone with an online Social Security account—over 100 million people, both current and future Social Security beneficiaries. The purpose of the list is for the government to share important information about Social Security benefits.

On July 2, the Trump administration sent an email from Commissioner Frank Bisignano, ostensibly to mark America’s 250th birthday. The email, like a similar one sent a year ago, is a fully political document.

Bisignano begins by bragging about President Donald Trump’s tax bill without mentioning:

  1. Trump’s bill cuts over $1 trillion from Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act, which is causing hospitals around the country to close—a disaster for seniors, especially those living in rural areas.
  2. Trump’s bill gives massive tax cuts to the ultra wealthy, including trillionaire Elon Musk.
  3. Trump’s bill does not end taxes on Social Security benefits, but does weaken Social Security’s long-term finances.

Bisignano then goes on to tout allegedly improved customer service. Widespread media reports show that customer service has massively deteriorated since Musk’s DOGE pushed out more than 8,000 of Social Security’s most experienced, knowledgeable workers. These reports include first-person stories where even highly educated people with Social Security expertise have faced months-long nightmares to resolve simple errors that cut themselves or their family members off from benefits.

Shortly after Bisignano was confirmed last year, Social Security removed longstanding customer service metrics from its website. Since then, Bisignano has cherry-picked his own metrics and used them to mislead.

Bisignano moved many of the remaining Social Security office workers to answering phones, while other essential work piles up. Then, he brags about shorter waits on the phone. What he doesn’t mention is that if you hang up in frustration, or talk to someone who can’t help you because they aren’t adequately trained, it still counts toward a short wait on the phone. The only metric that really matters is if people are getting the help they need. On that count, Bisignano is failing miserably.

The situation is particularly dire for people who need help in person. The country is dotted with Social Security “ghost offices” that aren’t officially closed (because that’s bad publicity for Trump and Bisignano) but have only a skeleton crew of workers remaining. These offices can’t meaningfully serve the community, and people are losing their hard-earned benefits as a result.

The same week that Bisignano sent out his political propaganda email, the Social Security Administration announced that the Freedom 250 logo will appear on the Social Security Cards of all babies born for the rest of 2026.

Freedom 250 is a semi-private, partisan entity. Trump and his allies are using it to turn the celebration of our nation’s 250th anniversary into profit for themselves. Freedom 250 has a history of harvesting data, and employs former DOGE operatives. Bisignano claims that the Social Security Administration isn’t paying Freedom 250 a licensing fee, or sharing data with it. But we already know that Bisignano lies as easily as he breathes.

Trump’s hijacking of Social Security is just the latest example of his corruption. Like the reflecting pool, the Kennedy Center, and the White House, Social Security is a sacred American institution that Trump is abusing for his own financial and political gain.

Social Security is a nonpartisan program, with overwhelming support from Democrats, Republicans, and independents. By using it for political purposes, Trump and Bisignano are betraying the American people.

Alex Lawson is the Executive Director of Social Security Works, the convening organization of the Strengthen Social Security Coalition -- a coalition made up of over 340 national and state organizations representing over 50 million Americans.

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REF 1 WAPO

Donors were misled by Trump-backed Freedom 250, House Democrats allege

The lawmakers’ report alleges that Trump allies worked to divert funds away from America250, a bipartisan effort to mark the nation’s semiquincentennial. Freedom 250 denies the allegations.

July 2, 2026

President Donald Trump wraps up his speech at the opening of the Great American State Fair on the National Mall on June 24. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)

By Ben Binday

and

Dan Diamond

Some donors who intended to give money to a bipartisan effort to celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary were, instead, steered to a White House-backed initiative under false pretenses, House Democrats allege in a report released Thursday morning, citing whistleblower interviews and newly obtained documents.

The donors meant to give money to America250, a congressionally chartered initiative to celebrate the nation’s semiquincentennial, according to Democrats on the House Natural Resources Committee. They instead were given routing and account numbers that directed their funds to Freedom 250, which President Donald Trump established last year to organize anniversary events, the report says.

The report does not identify the donors. In interviews, Democrats said they needed to protect the identity of whistleblowers who worked with the panel. But they said their report — which includes other allegations of Freedom 250 officials and allies explicitly steering money away from America250 and toward projects shaped by Trump — shows how the president transformed a bipartisan celebration of the nation’s anniversary into an initiative that benefited him and his allies.

“I’m a lawyer, and I know better than to pronounce that a crime has been committed,” said Rep. Jared Huffman (D-California), who oversaw the report as the committee’s top Democrat. “But I do know the elements of fraud, and there is evidence of all those elements here.”

Rep. Jared Huffman (D-California) speaks May 14 at the site of Trump’s proposed triumphal arch to commemorate the country’s 250th anniversary in Arlington, Virginia. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

The White House referred questions to Freedom 250, which denied that donors had been misled by its fundraising activities, said it was “unequivocally false” that Freedom 250’s routing and account numbers were given in lieu of America250’s, and criticized Democrats for the timing of their report.

“This so-called ‘report’ is nothing more than a partisan smear from politicians who would rather manufacture division than celebrate America’s 250th birthday alongside the rest of the country,” Freedom 250 spokeswoman Danielle Alvarez said in a statement.

Alvarez also criticized America250, saying that the bipartisan organization — which Congress established in 2016 — “had nothing to show” for its 10 years of planning and spending.

“Freedom 250 was created because the American people deserved better,” Alvarez said.

America250 declined to comment on the specific allegations in Democrats’ report.

“America250 will continue to focus on the values-based programming approved by our bipartisan Commission at the local, state, national and international levels, including once-in-a-lifetime celebratory moments during the 4th of July weekend,” Rosie Rios, who chairs America250, said in a statement. “We are supportive of the many other organizations planning events for the 250th at the federal, state and local level, so all Americans have ample opportunities to join in the celebration.”

Trump has extolled Freedom 250 in public remarks, saying that the initiative has organized multiple special events. The public-private partnership, which the White House launched in December, has overseen a flurry of high-profile announcements, including some from the Oval Office. Its branding has also been applied to events organized by IndyCar, the UFC and other groups in partnership with the Trump administration.

“We’ll have a Freedom 250 Grand Prix right here in Washington around the Capitol,” the president said last week in remarks kicking off the Great American State Fair on the National Mall — another Freedom 250-backed event.

People use American flag posters to shield themselves from the sun ahead of Trump’s speech at the opening of the Great American State Fair. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP)

The Trump-backed initiative has overtaken some efforts led by America250, which is directed by a bipartisan board created by Congress a decade ago.

America250 originally applied for and received a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services for so-called Freedom Trucks, mobile museums inspired by the American Freedom Train that crisscrossed the country from 1975-1976. The institute is a federal agency that provides financial support for museums and libraries.

Officials have said the grant was later voluntarily transferred to Freedom 250, which is now operating Freedom Trucks that provide a sanitized version of the nation’s founding, according to administration critics.

PRAGER?

America250 officials have said they reoriented their initiative to organize events outside Washington, while Freedom 250 focuses on events in the nation’s capital. But the dueling organizations and approaches have confused some corporate leaders and lawmakers, and tensions between the groups have grown, The Washington Post reported earlier this year.

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The Democratic lawmakers’ report offers further examples of how the two groups have come into conflict.

Some donors and sponsors interested in donating to America250 were told by the Trump administration that they lacked a “green light” to do so, according to the Democrats. The report also claims that administration officials pressured donors to redirect donations from the bipartisan effort to Freedom 250, with the Trump-backed group conducting outreach to America250 sponsors with donation requests.

Some corporate executives did not understand the difference between the two organizations and were confused by this process, the report says.

Freedom 250 officials also worked to deprive America250 of money, the Democrats charge, citing new examples of Trump allies pressuring donors to reallocate funds away from the bipartisan initiative. They also allege that Trump allies worked to shift public financial support away from America250, including $75 million of congressionally allocated funds that America250 leaders were expecting to receive. The remaining funds are likely to be kept by the White House, the report says.

The reduced funding posed challenges for America250 to execute planned programming, according to the report, including grants, educational initiatives, and volunteer programs. Redirected federal funding created “significant headwinds” for this programming, the Democrats said, though the group still sought to execute all planned events through additional private fundraising.

The Freedom 250 Ferris Wheel and the U.S. Capitol are seen June 26 during the fair. (Jen Golbeck/AP)

Though America250 is still organizing anniversary celebrations in large cities across the country, its programming has been overshadowed by that of Freedom 250. The Trump-backed group helped promote last month’s UFC fight on the White House lawn, helped organize this week’s opening of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in North Dakota and is coordinating a Trump rally and fireworks show scheduled for the evening of Independence Day.

Huffman said that if Democrats retake the House this fall — and obtain the power to issue subpoenas — they will open broader investigations into Freedom 250.

“If and when we have more tools at our disposal to do investigation and oversight, perhaps in the next Congress you will see a lot more information on this, I’m sure,” he said.

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REF 2

Ranking Member Huffman Releases Report on How Trump Hijacked America's 250th Birthday to Enrich Himself, Sell Access, and Harvest Americans' Data

Whistleblower accounts and internal documents reveal how the White House captured a beloved national charity, deceived donors out of their money, and sold access to the President

July 02, 2026

Washington, D.C. – Today, House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) released a new 55-page report following months of investigative work by Committee Democrats exposing how Donald Trump hijacked what was supposed to be a unifying, non-political celebration of our country's 250th birthday and made it all about him – his vanity projects, his political and religious agenda, his business ventures, and his cronies who gorged on public funds under cover of a shadow corporation shielded from public scrutiny.

The report, "From Vanity to Insanity: How the White House Cheated the American People Out of Their 250th Birthday," traces how the machinery Congress built for a national commemoration that would be above politics was commandeered, over a period of months, into an apparatus for raising and spending money in service of the President's ego, political agenda, and personal financial interests.

Watch Ranking Member Huffman discuss the report's findings.

“Donald Trump’s hijacking of America's 250th birthday will go down as one of the most corrupt, brazen abuses of public trust in presidential history, even by the dubious standards of this administration. As our country prepared to celebrate a milestone that belongs to every American, Trump and his operatives launched a hostile takeover of the bipartisan commission established by Congress to lead the celebration. When that failed, they sidelined the commission, siphoned its resources, and infiltrated a beloved national charity under cover of a shadow corporation that shielded them from public scrutiny. Then they proceeded to deceive donors, solicit foreign money, sell access to the President, award no-bid contracts to Trump loyalists, harvest Americans’ personal data, and push a white-washed, Christian nationalist version of history,” said Ranking Member Jared Huffman (D-Calif).

“But they didn’t account for us. Over the past year, our investigation has pursued the truth about the machinations, schemes and abuses of trust they’ve tried to hide. We’ve uncovered extensive evidence of corruption, self-enrichmentand potential crimes. The Republican majority in Congress, which has far more investigative tools and power than we do, could have joined us in conducting serious oversight and demanding answers. Instead, they’ve used their power to shield the individuals and entities involved.

“The American people deserve to know the truth about how the official national celebration of our country’s 250th anniversary was stolen, along with a large – and so far unaccounted for – sum of their taxpayer dollars. So, today – against the obstruction and resistance of our Republican colleagues – we are dragging this fiasco out of the shadows and shining a bright light on the corruption and fraud surrounding Freedom 250. We can’t stop from tarnishing the country’s July 4th celebration, but we can stop it from ever happening again – we can protect the next government program, the next fund, the next thing that's supposed to work for all of us, from being exploited and misused this way. That’s why we must confront this grift and corruption now. From our earliest days, America has stood for government by the people, not powerful tyrants. We will fight to keep it that way.”

When the nonpartisan, congressionally chartered America250 Commission refused to bend to the President's demands, the White House built a replacement - Freedom 250 LLC – and declared it the central platform for the national celebration. The White House lodged this shadow organization inside the National Park Foundation so it could exploit the credibility and donor relationships of a beloved public charity while operating outside the transparency rules Congress wrote into law for the commission.

Key Findings

The investigation drew on confidential disclosures from sources interviewed by Committee Democrats, internal Freedom 250 documents and talking points obtained by the Committee, sworn testimony from two Committee hearings, and written responses from the National Park Foundation and the National Forest Foundation.

Republicans on the Committee refused to conduct any oversight to hold the administration accountable, even when Democrats repeatedly raised evidence of wrongdoing at Republicans’ own hearing entitled, “All in for America250: Public-Private Partnerships Supporting America’s Semiquincentennial on our Public Lands.” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum testified he was "not aware of the final decisionmaker" behind Freedom 250, and the Department has refused to provide that information since.

Read the full report here.

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REF 3 GUK

Trump hijacked US’s 250 anniversary to serve ‘political ideology and pet projects’, congressional report says

This article is more than 1 month old

House Democratic subcommittee report outlines web of alleged corruption, wire fraud and pay-to-play schemes

David Smith in Washington

Thu 2 Jul 2026

Donald Trump staged a hostile takeover of the US’s 250th anniversary celebration to enrich political allies, harvest voter data and promote Christian nationalist ideology, according to a congressional investigation released on Thursday.

The interim report, “From Vanity to Insanity: How the White House Cheated the American People Out of Their 250th Birthday”, outlines a web of alleged corruption, wire fraud and pay-to-play schemes orchestrated through a shadow corporation embedded within the National Park Foundation (NPF).

The document was produced by Democratic staff of the House of Representatives’ natural resources committee’s oversight and investigations subcommittee. It has not been officially adopted by the committee.

Collage of welcome sign outside Yellowstone national park

‘A sanitized view of America’: inside Trump’s campaign to erase US history from national parks

Read more

“Under President Donald Trump, this anniversary has been hijacked and perverted into a hotbed of corruption and self-enrichment,” it states, contending that the machinery built for a national commemoration was converted “into an apparatus for raising and spending money in service of the President’s ego, political ideology, and pet projects”.

How Trump is making the US’s 250th anniversary about himself – video

3:00

How Trump is making the US’s 250th anniversary about himself – video

In 2016 Congress established the US semiquincentennial commission, operating as the non-profit America250 Foundation, to plan the nation’s 2026 celebrations on a non-partisan basis. However, under Trump, the White House launched a sustained pressure campaign to subsume the commission.

When America250 leadership resisted its demands to shift focus toward partisan, campaign-style spectacles, the Trump administration created Freedom 250 as a wholly owned subsidiary of the congressionally chartered NPF.

The interim report finds that, by taking control of the NPF board and installing key campaign operatives such as Meredith O’Rourke and Chris LaCivita, the White House secured an opaque vehicle that enjoyed the NPF’s non-partisan credibility and tax-exempt status while operating outside standard government transparency laws.

Jared Huffman, a California congressman who is the top Democrat on the natural resources committee, said: “I can’t, in my time here in Congress, remember anything even remotely like this: watching this trusted, venerable charity organisation, the National Parks Foundation, literally be hijacked for a craven political agenda that tries to steal the celebration of America’s 250th anniversary and turn it into something that’s all about Trump, advancing this very divisive agenda and even enriching Trump and those around him.”

The interim report alleges that Freedom 250 surreptitiously diverted resources intended for America250 for its own benefit, leaving America250 scrambling for funds.

Sources interviewed by Democrats on the committee said fundraisers including O’Rourke misled prospective America250 donors by providing them with Freedom 250’s banking and routing numbers instead. The report finds this could constitute wire fraud and charitable solicitation fraud under federal and District of Columbia law.

This deceit extended to the entertainment industry. Artists recruited for the kickoff of the Great American State Fair – including Martina McBride and Young MC – were assured the event was non-partisan, only to face social media backlash when the event was revealed to be a Trump-backed rally. In the words of Young MC, the booking was a “bait and switch”.

The investigation also outlines how Freedom 250 effectively put a price tag on presidential access, circulating sponsorship packages starting at $500,000 and climbing above $10m for tiered recognition, culminating in a “historic photo opportunity” with Trump.

The report also points to perhaps the most clear example on 14 June when the White House hosted a huge Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) event on the South Lawn to celebrate the president’s 80th birthday. The event was heavily sponsored by corporations facing impending federal regulation and used vast government resources for “Super Bowl-level security” marshalled by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Fighters received bonuses in “USD1”, a cryptocurrency issued by World Liberty Financial, a trust run by the president’s children, and Trump personally bought up to $50,000 in stock in the UFC’s parent company weeks before the event.

Freedom 250 has also functioned as a conduit for steering federal funds to Trump campaign loyalists. Event Strategies – the same firm that planned the January 6 rally that preceded the US Capitol attack – was awarded 18 federal contracts totalling roughly $40m, along with an indefinite delivery master contract worth up to $100m.

Beyond lucrative contracts, the administration is accused of building a partisan political database disguised as a government domain. Freedom 250’s website, initially managed by former “Department of Government Efficiency” (Doge) employees known for past data leaks, extensively logs user data.

Event registration is powered by Campaign Nucleus, a firm founded by Brad Parscale, a veteran of Trump election campaigns. Campaign Nucleus openly boasts about using artificial intelligence to analyse personal data and target “persuadable” voters. Unsuspecting visitors, such as attenders of a free Fifa World Cup Fan Zone on the National Mall, unwittingly fed their personal information directly into this Republican campaign apparatus.

The report also focuses on the ideological overhaul of the semiquincentennial. Freedom 250 replaced America250’s civic engagement focus with overt Christian nationalist programming, operating in tandem with the Religious Liberty Commission, which recently recommended repealing the Johnson amendment to allow churches to engage in partisan politics.

A central feature of this effort was “Freedom Trucks” – a federally funded fleet of mobile museums dispatched to schoolchildren across the nation. Supplied with content from the conservative PragerU [the Prager University Foundation] and Hillsdale College, these exhibits recast the founding of the US as an exclusively Christian project, embracing demonstrable falsehoods.

Exhibits include an AI-generated George Washington claiming that “our rights are a gift from God”, a statement the first president is not documented as having made, alongside antisemitic tropes suggesting that Jewish merchants financed the revolutionary cause while omitting they also fought and died for it.

Concurrently, the administration aggressively moved to erase historical realities, removing national park signage detailing slavery, forced removal of Indigenous peoples and climate change. Huffman said it amounted to an attempt to reshape American identity to fit a narrow rightwing agenda.

“It’s a fantasy that airbrushes out the more complicated parts of our history – slavery, the Native American genocide, the actual secular ideals on which our government was founded. It wasn’t the opening of the clouds and some revealed covenant with God as they would have you believe.”

As Washington barrels towards Fourth of July, with another Trump speech and a big fireworks display planned for the national mall, Huffman acknowledges that Freedom 250 is unstoppable. But his goal now is exposure.

“The one thing we can do is make sure the American people know what they’re doing in our name and with our tax dollars,” the congressman said. “We should do that because what they have pulled off here is a potential template for other betrayals of public trust that they and maybe future generations will attempt if we don’t challenge them.”

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NYT

Firm That Planned Trump’s Jan. 6 Rally Received No-Bid Contracts

This administration has given the company, staffed by the president’s allies, multimillion-dollar contracts it was guaranteed to win.

President Trump addressing the crowd at his rally on Jan. 6, 2021, that Event Strategies Inc. helped organize. Attendees overran the Capitol later that day.Credit...Pete Marovich for The New York Times

David A. FahrentholdAndrea Fuller

By David A. Fahrenthold and Andrea Fuller

David A. Fahrenthold and Andrea Fuller examined federal contracting data showing how often the government circumvents open bidding.

March 18, 2026

The Trump administration has bypassed regular procedures to award more than $13 million in contracts to the company that helped organize President Trump’s rally on Jan. 6, 2021, repeatedly creating hidden business opportunities that only one firm could win.

Those contracts have transformed Event Strategies Inc., staffed by veterans of Mr. Trump’s campaigns and first White House, from a minor federal contractor into the government’s highest-paid event planner. The firm has arranged celebrations of the Navy’s 250th birthday and a Treasury Department event to tout new savings accounts for children, called “Trump accounts.”

By law, federal agencies are generally supposed to seek competing bids before awarding contracts, to get the best value for taxpayers. Event Strategies won contracts that were particularly lucrative, the kind that other companies say they would have liked to win.

In at least five cases, other firms never got the chance.

Instead, the agencies invoked legal loopholes meant for special situations — instances of urgent need, or cases where only one specialized vendor could do a job — and gave the contracts to Event Strategies.

Of the $22 million in federal contracts that Event Strategies has received since Mr. Trump resumed office, the majority has come through these carve-outs. By contrast, less than 3 percent of the $120 million the Trump administration awarded to other event planners involved similar exemptions, a New York Times analysis of federal contracting data found.

This firm’s special treatment is a stark example of the way that the second Trump administration has used taxpayer money to benefit people close to the president or his top officials.

Mr. Trump ran on the promise of “draining the swamp” of Washington influence-peddling. But in these cases, his agencies seem to have turned off a decades-old system meant to ensure an even playing field.

“Competition allows the government to contract for the best products, the best services, at the best value to the government,” said Jessica Tillipman, an associate dean at the George Washington University Law School and procurement law professor. She said these cases raise “questions about whether or not the agencies have a legitimate basis to sidestep competitive procedures.”

Federal regulations require agencies to award contracts “with complete impartiality and with preferential treatment for none.” It is difficult to judge whether these specific contracts ran afoul of those rules, because agencies have given so little detail about them.

Regardless, there can also be political consequences for awarding no-bid contracts. Last year, the Department of Homeland Security used urgency exemptions to justify $220 million in no-bid media contracts that went to companies tied to Kristi Noem, the department’s secretary, and her allies. The controversy over those contracts played a role in Ms. Noem’s downfall: She was fired this month after lawmakers grilled her about the deals.

Event Strategies did not respond to questions about the contracts or Jan. 6. Instead, Tim Unes, its president, issued a statement that touted the company’s years of experience.

“We’re honored to play a role in bringing our nation’s 250th celebration to life,” Mr. Unes said.

The Treasury Department, which provided one of the five contracts to Event Strategies, said it had been working on a “condensed timeline.” The Navy, which provided the other four, defended its decisions by saying that Event Strategies was the “only vendor capable of executing the requirement within the necessary time frame.”

A spokesman for Mr. Trump, Davis Ingle, said in a statement that the White House was not involved in the awarding of these contracts.

“There is a standard federal process, and the White House expects all agencies to comply with it,” Mr. Ingle said in a statement.

Viral Stunts

Mr. Trump made appearances during the 2024 campaign that were orchestrated by Justin Caporale, one of Event Strategies’ partners, to get social media attention.Credit...Photographs by Doug Mills/The New York Times

Event Strategies, based in Northern Virginia, was founded 26 years ago by veterans of Washington’s “advance” industry, who arrange events where politicians will speak. Some details of its recent federal contracts were first reported by Wired.

Mr. Trump has used Event Strategies since the start of his political career. The company organized his 2015 presidential campaign kickoff at Trump Tower, and has received more than $67 million from political committees supporting the president since then, public filings show.

Image

Mr. Trump announcing his presidential campaign at Trump Tower in 2015.Credit...Todd Heisler/The New York Times

On Jan. 6, 2021, the firm handled logistics for the rally on the Ellipse, at which Mr. Trump urged supporters to march on the Capitol, where they sought to overturn his loss in the 2020 presidential election. Because of the firm’s role, Mr. Unes lost a volunteer role helping to plan memorial events in Washington for former Senator Bob Dole in late 2021.

No one at the firm was charged with wrongdoing.

Justin Caporale, one of the firm’s partners — a former Trump campaign advance staff member and aide to Melania Trump, the first lady — told congressional investigators that the attack on the Capitol was “a disgusting display that should’ve never happened.”

Image

Mr. Caporale, left, adjusting a microphone while Mr. Trump signed executive orders at Capital One Arena in January 2025.Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times

After that, he and his firm went back to work for Mr. Trump. During the 2024 campaign, Mr. Caporale helped arrange appearances designed to attract social media attention, in which Mr. Trump drove a garbage truck and worked a McDonald’s drive-through.

When Mr. Trump was re-elected, he wrote on his Truth Social network that he was rewarding Mr. Caporale with an unusual role as the White House’s “Executive Producer for Major Events and Public Appearances.”

“Congratulations Justin,” Mr. Trump said. “Keep up the GREAT work!”

But Mr. Caporale is not on the government’s payroll. He remained at Event Strategies.

A Surge in Business

Event Strategies was awarded a contract from the Navy to provide services for a celebration in Norfolk, Va., called “Titans of the Sea.” It featured flyovers, missile demonstrations and a presidential keynote.Credit...Photographs by Doug Mills/The New York Times

Before last year, public databases show Event Strategies was paid just $186,000 for federal contracts during Mr. Trump’s first term, and nothing under President Biden.

Last September, its fortunes began to change.

The firm enrolled with the government as a preapproved contractor. Agencies routinely use this system to purchase common commercial goods and services without having to run the process from scratch, sharing opportunities among the authorized vendors and allowing them to decide whether to bid.

It was akin to a restaurant getting its menu onto the DoorDash app. Now, agencies could easily buy the company’s services, but there was no guarantee that they would. After all, there are more than 200 other event planners in the system.

Within a month, however, the firm landed millions of dollars in Navy contracts.

In late September, the Navy awarded Event Strategies a $189,000 contract to help organize a country music concert and cookout in Virginia Beach, Va., to celebrate the service’s 250th birthday. The next week, the Navy gave it two more contracts, for $5.2 million each, on back-to-back days. The firm was paid to provide services for a larger celebration in nearby Norfolk, Va., called “Titans of the Sea,” which featured flyovers, missile demonstrations and a presidential keynote.

Then, the next month, the Navy gave the firm a fourth contract, for $2.1 million, to plan events connected to the 250th anniversary in Annapolis, Md.

In a departure from standard practice, those contracts were offered to Event Strategies alone.

In three cases, the Navy designated the contracts as “only one source,” invoking an exemption meant for rare circumstances, such as when only one company provides a certain service or has unique or superior equipment. In the fourth case, it used a slightly different single-source exemption so rarely cited that it had never before been applied to event planning.

A Navy spokeswoman said that Event Strategies already had relevant experience, after working for two nonprofit groups planning celebrations for the country’s 250th birthday — America250, run by a bipartisan commission, and Freedom 250, run by Mr. Trump’s allies. As part of its work with America250, the firm had planned a military parade to celebrate the Army’s 250th birthday.

The firm “possessed the institutional knowledge, production infrastructure, and operational readiness required to rapidly deliver the full scope of services for the Navy and Marine Corps 250th celebrations,” the spokeswoman said. She said the Navy had been facing a “compressed timeline,” but declined to say why.

Public documents provide few details about what the firm did for the events, or the amounts it charged for labor and equipment, making it difficult to determine if Event Strategies charged a fair price.

But other event-planning vendors said there was an easy way to determine if somebody else could do the job better or cheaper: Let other companies bid against them.

Towan Isom, whose firm Isom Events LLC has held contracts under both Democratic and Republican administrations, called it a lost opportunity. “You can be prepared, but how can you get to the next level if the access to the opportunity isn’t equitable?” she said.

In January, procurement documents indicate that the Treasury Department again bypassed normal procedures to give a contract to Event Strategies.

The department paid the firm $740,000 to provide food, beverages and audio-visual services at a “kickoff” for the Trump accounts, which had been created six months earlier by Congress. The event, held in an auditorium in Washington, included speeches by Mr. Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, as well as an onstage interview where the rapper Nicki Minaj praised the accounts.

Event Strategies was paid $740,000 to help organize an event to announce the Trump accounts that featured Mr. Trump, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and the rapper Nicki Minaj.Credit...Photographs by Allison Robbert for The New York Times

In giving the contract to Event Strategies, the Treasury Department cited another rarely used loophole, meant for urgent needs that leave no time for the usual solicitation of bids.

Event Strategies was hired on Jan. 27, a day before the event, contracting data show. It is unclear why the Treasury would wait until the day before to hire a vendor to run such a large and expensive event. The agency had signed a contract to pay the catering company that manages the venue on Jan. 15.

It was the first time that the Treasury had used the urgency exemption to justify a contract to a company registered as an event planner or conference organizer, a Times analysis of roughly two decades of publicly available contracting data found.

The Treasury Department did not respond to detailed questions about the event, or explain what caused the event to be planned on a “condensed timeline.” Instead, the department issued a brief statement saying it “adheres to all standard processes and procedures for federal contracting and procurement.”

Lorna Tedder, a retired contracting expert who spent 31 years at the Defense Department, said that the exemption for urgency is typically used in dire cases, like supplying weapons to Special Operations units.

“Usually, I see it in wartime situations, or we’re going to lose a lot of money, or somebody’s going to die,” said Ms. Tedder, who left government in 2018 and then wrote a blog about contracting. “It’s not meant to be a shortcut.”

Ms. Tedder said she had once used the urgency exemption to hire a vendor for an event, but under vastly different circumstances than the Treasury Department gathering. She had to arrange an in-person meeting in wartime for a group of generals who needed to meet later that day.

“That right there is urgent,” she said. “I don’t see how this could be urgent.”

Event Strategies has also received about $9 million in other federal contracts since Mr. Trump returned to office last January.

In two cases, it actually had competition. The firm won a $279,000 contract from the General Services Administration to decorate buildings for America’s 250th and a $3.7 million contract from the State Department for “event support” in Doral, Fla. — where Mr. Trump will host a Group of 20 summit at his golf resort later this year.

Both times, records show the company beat out one other unnamed bidder. In several other cases, agencies reported that they had set up a “full and open competition” — for either small businesses or a larger pool — but that only Event Strategies had participated.

Among those was an agreement with the Department of Homeland Security to provide ongoing digital media services that has already yielded the company $4.4 million.

The State Department and Department of Homeland Security did not answer questions about how they publicized those deals. The General Services Administration said it had “complied with all requirements and regulations,” but did not give more details.

Alex Klavens contributed reporting.

David A. Fahrenthold is a Times investigative reporter writing about nonprofit organizations. He has been a reporter for two decades.

Andrea Fuller is a data journalist at The Times, using data analysis to make sense of complex topics.

A version of this article appears in print on March 19, 2026, Section A, Page 1 of the New York edition with the headline: Rally Planner On Jan. 6 Gets No-Bid Deals. Order Reprints |

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Company Linked to Jan. 6 Got Millions in No-Bid Fed Contracts | SwampWatch

Company Linked to Jan. 6 Got Millions in No-Bid Fed Contracts

NEWS & RESEARCH

Event Strategies, Inc., a Virginia-based event production company, has worked with President Trump since his 2015 campaign launch. They even helped plan the January 6, 2021 rally. When Trump returned to office in 2025, he made Event Strategies’ Managing Partner, Justin Caporale, his Executive Producer for Major Events. Critics cite the ESI deals as a stark example of taxpayer money benefiting presidential cronies. Experts, including retired contractor Lorna Tedder, note that ESI’s exemption from competitive bidding bypasses standard protocols and abuses a no-bid process intended only for dire emergencies, such as wartime or life-threatening situations.During the first Trump term, Event Strategies received about $186,000 in federal contracts. Since 2025, Event Strategies has secured over $22 million in federal contracts. More than $13 million of these funds were awarded through noncompetitive procedures (a/k/a “‘no-bid’ contracts”).

SOURCES: Wired | New York Times| Daily Beast | Mother Jones | The Independent | Wired

ANALYSIS & OPINION

Critics cite the ESI deals as a stark example of taxpayer money benefiting presidential cronies. Experts, including retired contractor Lorna Tedder, note that ESI’s exemption from competitive bidding bypasses standard protocols and abuses a no-bid process intended only for dire emergencies, such as wartime or life-threatening situations. Jessica Tillipman, an associate dean at George Washington University Law School, questions whether the government had “a legitimate basis to sidestep competitive procedures,” saying that “Competition allows the government to contract for the best products, the best services, at the best value…” There are at least two issues: First, current law requires contractors to disclose many conflicts, but at this time, no law requires the disclosure of deep political connections with a party or politician.

ESI’s track record highlights this pay-to-play access and political favoritism: The little-known firm hadn’t received any federal contracts under Biden, and only about $50,000 worth in the last decade. Yet, under Trump, it has suddenly become the government's highest-paid event planner. Second, while there are databases that track government contracting, the lag between the awards and their release to the public can allow politically connected firms to benefit from noncompetitive awards before Congress or the public can understand why competition was bypassed.

SOURCES: Congressional Research Service | Brennan Center | New York Times | Wired | Sen. Schiff Press Release

HOW TO FIX IT

Federal action:

Federal action:

Legislation: S.2809 - Transparency in Contracting Act of 2025 | S.2838 - Protecting Our Democracy Act

Conflict of InterestNepotism or CronyismPay to Play

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duck 8 26

  2. crbcnews.com
  3. https://www.crbcnews.com › articles › 6a33c21a5f106ffd0672cd76

Senators Probe Event Strategies' Role in Planning U.S. 250th After Jan ...

  1. Jun 18, 2026Top Senate Democrats have asked for records after learning that Event Strategies Inc., a firm tied to the Jan. 6 Ellipse rally, received millions in low-competition contracts to support the nation's 250th anniversary events. In a June 17 letter, Sens. Schiff, Warren, Blumenthal and Welch allege the administration exploited procurement loopholes after former ESI CEO Justin Caporale joined the ...
  4. teamesi.com
  5. https://teamesi.com

Event Strategies, Inc. | Event Strategies, Inc. creates and delivers ...

  1. Event Strategies, Inc. creates and delivers exceptional live events that bring our clients' brands and messages to life. We specialize in high-impact public engagements, offering end-to-end services—from innovative event design and custom fabrication to cutting-edge audiovisual production, strategic programming, expert media coordination, seamless guest management, government and political ...
  4. USA Today
  5. https://www.usatoday.com › story › news › usa250 › 2026 › 06 › 18 › freedom-250-event-strategies-jan-6 › 90593943007

Dems probe Jan. 6 contractor's ties to Freedom 250 planning

  1. Jun 19, 2026Event Strategies, aka ESI, has received more than $7 million in low-competition federal contracts related to the country's anniversary and more than $22 million total in contracts since Trump's ...
  4. Central Oregon Daily
  5. https://www.centraloregondaily.com › news › nation-world › dems-probe-jan-6-rally-contractor-s-role-in-freedom-250-planning › article_677503d6-ba45-5a90-8774-bea27f49b7c6.html

Dems probe Jan. 6 rally contractor's role in Freedom 250 planning

  1. 5 days agoThe bulk of Event Strategies' federal contracts have been awarded since Justin Caporale, the company's former CEO, was appointed executive producer for major events and public appearances in the Executive Office of the President. Caporale was a project manager for the Jan. 6, 2021, March to Save America rally.
  4. schiff.senate.gov
  5. https://www.schiff.senate.gov › news › press-releases › news-sen-schiff-leads-senate-democrats-in-demanding-answers-from-trump-administration-over-22-million-in-federal-contracts-awarded-to-firm-that-organized-trump-january-6-rally

NEWS: Sen. Schiff Leads Senate Democrats in Demanding Answers from ...

  1. Jun 18, 2026Washington, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Senate Democrats are demanding answers on the Trump administration's awarding of federal contracts to Event Strategies, Inc. (ESI), the event management firm that organized the rally used to incite the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Since January 2025, ESI has received more than $22 million in taxpayer-funded ...
  4. newsclip.com
  5. https://newsclip.com › article › event-strategies-from-january-6-rally-to-100-million-in-federal-contracts

Event Strategies: From January 6 Rally to $100 Million in Federal ...

  1. Mar 10, 2026The Company's Background Event Strategies has its roots embedded deep within the political fabric of Trump's administration. Founded 26 years ago, the company previously gained recognition for its role in organizing political events and rallies, notably the January 6 rally at the Ellipse in 2021. According to the filings, cofounder Tim Unes was a designated stage manager for that day.
  4. Daily Beast
  5. https://www.thedailybeast.com › jan-6-rally-organizer-cashes-in-with-no-bid-federal-contracts-under-trump

Jan. 6 Rally Organizer Cashes In With No-Bid Deals Under Trump

  1. Mar 18, 2026The Trump administration has reportedly steered more than $13 million in no-bid contracts to a firm that organized President Donald Trump's Jan. 6 rally. Event Strategies Inc. had been a small ...
  4. WIRED
  5. https://www.wired.com › story › they-helped-plan-the-january-6-rally-now-their-events-company-is-raking-in-millions-in-government-contracts

A Trumpworld Events Company Is Raking In Millions in Federal ... - WIRED

  1. Mar 10, 2026The Trump administration has awarded Event Strategies several contracts—including one that could be worth up to $100 million—with little competition, according to federal filings.
  4. PressReader.com
  5. https://www.pressreader.com › usa › usa-today-us-edition › 20260622 › 281560887505871

Role of Jan. 6 contractor in 250th plans prompts probe

  1. Jun 22, 2026The bulk of Event Strategies' federal contracts have been awarded since Justin Caporale, the company's former CEO, was appointed executive producer for major events and public appearance­s in the Executive Office of the President. Caporale was a project manager for the Jan. 6, 2021, March to Save America rally.
  4. Welch
  5. https://www.welch.senate.gov › welch-joins-senate-dems-in-demanding-answers-from-trumps-chief-of-staff-about-22-million-in-federal-contracts-awarded-to-firm-connected-to-trumps-january-6th-rally

Welch Joins Senate Dems in Demanding Answers from Trump's Chief of ...

  1. Jun 18, 2026The Senators highlighted how the administration's relationship with politically connected firms like ESI raise obvious concerns about the driving factors behind federal contract awards: "Since the January 2025 appointment of Justin Caporale, former CEO of ESI and 'Project Manager' of the

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