The events company that helped plan Donald Trump’s rally on January 6, 2021, where his supporters rioted and marched on the Capitol, has been handed $13 million in no-bid contracts from the administration since he resumed office, according to a report.
The Trump administration bypassed normal procedures, where other firms typically bid on the contracts to get the best value for the taxpayer, to award the contracts to Event Strategies, a company that has had ties to the president since his first presidential campaign in 2015, The New York Times reports.
On January 6, 2021, the company was responsible for the logistics of Trump’s rally on the Ellipse in Washington, D.C., where the then-defeated president gave a speech and encouraged his supporters to protest against the result of the 2020 election, according to the newspaper.
No one at the firm was charged with wrongdoing in connection with the events of January 6.
Event Strategies has done business with Trump and his political campaigns since they organized his 2015 presidential bid at Trump Tower. And since then, the company has netted more than $67 million from political committees supporting Trump, according to the newspaper, citing public filings.
The company was responsible for planning publicity events during Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, including when he worked the McDonald’s fryer and drive-through, and drove a garbage truck.
Of the no-bid contracts handed to the company during Trump’s second administration, four were awarded by the Navy to mark the service’s 250th birthday, exceeding more than $10 million in total, and one was given by the Treasury Department for an event to promote the “Trump Accounts,” according to the Times, citing federal contracting data.
In a statement to The Independent, a Navy spokesperson defended awarding the contracts to the firm due to a “compressed timeline” to deliver the events.
But the way in which Event Strategies was awarded the contracts signals the firm’s “special treatment” due to its close ties to Trumpworld, the Times reported.
The company has received $22 million in federal contracts during the second Trump administration, with the majority awarded through no-bid, according to the newspaper, which noted that federal agencies are required to award the contracts “with complete impartiality and with preferential treatment for none.”
Tim Unes, president of Event Strategies, told the newspaper that the company was “honored to play a role in bringing our nation’s 250th celebrations to life,” and did not respond to questions about the contracts.
The Independent has contacted the firm for further comment.
The White House said it was not involved in awarding the contracts and that “there is a standard federal process” that it expects agencies to comply with.
In total, the Navy awarded Event Strategies $12.6 million in contracts for events tied to the 250th celebrations, which were offered to them “alone” and in a “departure from standard practice,” according to the Times.
They included two separate contracts for $5.2 million each in September 2025 for services the “Titans of the Sea” event in Norfolk, Virginia, another $2.1 million contract for an event connected to the Navy’s 250th anniversary in Annapolis, Maryland, and a $189,000 contract for a concert and cookout in Virginia Beach.
A Navy spokesperson told The Independent that the firm was “the only vendor capable of executing the requirement within the necessary timeframe.”
“ESI had already been directly involved in the planning and execution of Army 250th events and 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 spokesperson said.
“The Navy received funding through an interagency transfer specifically intended to support time-sensitive production activities tied to this historic milestone,” the spokesperson added.
Public documents show that the Treasury awarded a $740,000 contract to Event Strategies in January to provide food, drink and audio-visual services at an event to launch the Trump bank accounts.
The company was only hired the day before the event and was awarded the contract through a “rarely-used loophole meant for urgent needs,” according to the Times.
Experts told the outlet that the loophole is usually used in cases of dire urgency, or in “wartime situations.”
In a statement to the outlet, the Treasury said it “adheres to all standard processes and procedures for federal contracting and procurement.”
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