Washington, DC — New documents, obtained via the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), raise serious questions about Freedom 250 contracting and potential abuse of taxpayer funds.

PEER intends to release further documents in the coming weeks to help the public understand the financing mechanism for Freedom 250.

The documents raise serious questions that require additional oversight by Congress and shine a further light on the questionable practices of Freedom 250 and their financial sponsor the National Park Foundation (NPF).

Specifically, the documents reveal that:

• A French foundry associated with far-right figures and causes made new Revolutionary War statues for Freedom Plaza. The cooperative agreement identifies the foundry, Atelier Missor, as the vendor and provided $9.4 million to Freedom 250 for two months of operating costs and the installation at Freedom Plaza, though the amount to Atelier Missor is not specified. The National Park Service, Freedom 250, and the White House were behind the installation, though as recently as August, NPS and the Interior Department had declined to disclose who was behind the exhibition or how much it cost.
• The National Park Service (NPS) directed $26,911,193 in taxpayer money to Event Strategies Inc (ESI), the Trump-favored firm that helped stage the rally on the Ellipse on January 6, 2021, through their Freedom 250 cooperative agreement with the NPF for work performed in April and May 2026.
• In November 2025, NPF justified its request that the NPS waive competitive procurement requirements for America 250 related work, “Due to the immovable national deadlines associated with the 250th anniversary” and because “the White House has requested engagement of specific qualified contractors[.]” The waiver was granted in December, enabling NPF and Freedom 250 to direct taxpayer funds to vendors, including ESI, without open and fair competition.
• NPF provided a budget estimate for key Freedom 250 events with a total estimated cost of $128.5 million and anticipated federal funding of $114.2 million. And yet Freedom 250 raised substantial corporate funds, raising questions where that private funding went if most of the signature events were largely government funded.

You can see the documents:

• See cooperative agreement award
• Procurement waiver request and grant and Freedom 250 budget estimate
• Additional information on Freedom Plaza installation

PEER has been raising questions about Freedom 250 for more than a year, and have exposed several abuses of taxpayer funds and widespread corruption. Earlier this year, Tim Whitehouse, PEER’s Executive Director, testified before Congress about Freedom 250 and the need for greater accountability and transparency.

“While public employees have faced layoffs, budget cuts and attacks on their work, the Trump administration took what should have been a non-partisan celebration of America’s birthday and turned it into a partisan celebration awash in scandal, corruption, self-dealing, influence peddling and abuse of taxpayer funds,” said Tim Whitehouse, Executive Director of PEER. “Public servants and the American people deserve transparency and accountability for how their tax dollars were spent. We urge Congress to hold hearings on these grotesque abuses, and we will continue to work to expose the truth through every avenue possible.”

###

PEER protects public employees who protect our environment, natural resources, and public health. We support current and former environmental and public health professionals, land managers, scientists, enforcement officers, and other civil servants dedicated to upholding environmental laws and values across federal, state, local, and tribal governments.