President Donald Trump has bypassed standard procedures and used multimillion-dollar no-bid contracts to extract $13 million. He awarded the massive amount to the company that helped him organize the rally on January 6, 2021.
According to The New York Times, the Trump administration bypassed regular procedures. They repeatedly created hidden business opportunities, aiming to ensure only one firm could secure the contracts. As a result, this transformed Event Strategies Inc. from a small federal contractor into the government’s highest-paid event planner.
New reporting reveals that Trump has funneled $13 million to the company that helped organize the January 6th insurrection.
Through legal loopholes, the administration created hidden business opportunities only that company could win. pic.twitter.com/gI9EERrUfl
— FactPost (@factpostnews) March 18, 2026
The report states that federal rules are intended to prevent the direct awarding of contracts to firms. Instead, they seek competing bids, with contracts typically awarded through competitive bidding. They aim to get the best value for taxpayers, but Event Strategies won contracts that other companies were unable to compete for. The Trump administration used legal loopholes that were meant for “special situations.”
The situations included: urgent need, cases where a specialized vendor could do a job, which were used to award contracts directly to the firm. The report confirms at least five cases where other firms could not place their bids for these contracts. Event Strategies Inc. received a majority of the contracts, totaling an estimated $22 million in federal work.
The firm had previously done business with the President in 2015, during his presidential campaign kickoff at Trump Tower. The firm received $67 million from political committees backing him, according to public filings. The company continues to do regular business with Trump, hosting publicity events like the one during the 2024 presidential campaign.
This included the iconic moments of him working at a McDonald’s fryer and drive-through, and driving a garbage truck. One major instance of the loophole occurred when the Navy awarded four contracts to mark its 250th anniversary. The amount exceeded $10 million.
— Mic O. (@Titleist1x) March 18, 2026
In a separate report from The Independent, a Navy spokesperson told the outlet, defending the decision, stating that a “compressed timeline” was required to deliver these events.
The Treasury Department awarded them one contract for an event promoting the Trump Accounts. Likewise, Davis Ingle, a spokesman for President Trump, denied wrongdoing in the awarding of the contracts.
He defended, saying,
“There is a standard federal process, and the White House expects all agencies to comply with it.”
Regular business with the firm has boosted its fortunes, as it is registered with the government as a pre-approved contractor. Thus, agencies occasionally use this system to purchase commercial goods from Event Strategies Inc., eliminating the lengthy process of identifying an authorized vendor.
