In what has been described as a potentially "unprecedented" shift from typical guidelines, The Guardian reported that a heavily MAGA-aligned firm had been given a major public relations contract, for which the administration had explicitly demanded "partisan loyalty" to Donald Trump.
The outlet on Thursday broke the story that American Made Media Company (AMMC) LLC had been chosen by the Trump administration to receive a $250,000 contract to conduct PR duties for the Department of Homeland Security in September. The company, formed early last year by the "merging [of] several existing GOP-oriented political operations," is led by former Trump campaign officials and is notable for its connections to prominent MAGA figure Corey Lewandowski.
While Trump has been known to hand out jobs and contracts to loyalists, according to The Guardian, this PR contract marked a notable "departure" from standard federal policy for procurement, as the posting for it explicitly demanded that the firm show loyalty to Trump and his MAGA agenda.
"The contractor must demonstrate an established track record of promoting Trump administration policies in the media,” the contract listing stated, with preference being given to any firm that could boast of “prior experience in Cabinet-level communications, particularly those who served in a cabinet agency during the first Trump presidency”.
AMMC received the contract just four days after the listing was released. Per The Guardian, the firm was notable for lacking any "apparent record of past government work," indicating that its "avowedly partisan" status and MAGA connections were more to blame for it getting the job. It may also have been related to another company that received considerable campaign spending from Trump in 2020.
"AMMC is an avowedly partisan, Republican firm with no apparent record of past government work," The Guardian detailed. "Its components include a data and polling agency, a direct mail operation and film production service, the latter having produced ads for the 2024 Trump campaign, former Trump personal physician turned Texas congressman Ronny Jackson and Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer. A similarly named shell company, American Made Media Consultants, was a conduit for $782m in Trump campaign spending in 2020..."
Around the same time as the contract was awarded, reports emerged that Lewandowski was acting as an unpaid acting chief of staff for DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, with rumors also swirling that the two may be romantically linked. According to The Guardian, he "now reportedly wields significant control over contracts awarded by DHS."
Scott Amey, general counsel for the nonpartisan watchdog group, Project on Government Oversight, told The Guardian that the speed and apparent partisan bias of the contract were "highly unusual – even unprecedented."
"Talk about fast tracking, the bid was only open for 31 hours, and work began three days later. Speed often results in bad deals for the public,” Amey said, also adding, "the contract was advertised as pro-Trump firms only, which violates general contracting safeguards against bias and preferential treatment. While we know contracts are often steered to friendly companies, this is the first time I have seen such political bias in writing.”
Jessica Tillipman, associate dean for government procurement law studies at George Washington University, also told the outlet that the "brazen" nature of the contract's favoritism represented as "blazing red flag."