Trump Fundraiser Got $600 Million Intelligence Contract After Helping Middle East Nations Gain Access To President: Reports
The space and defense firm owned by a former Republican National Committee deputy finance chairman reportedly received hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts, including from the federal government, while its owner lobbied the Trump administration for two Middle Eastern powers.
Elliott Broidy, who's long been a major GOP fundraiser and helped Trump attain funds along the campaign trail, lobbied the Trump administration on behalf of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates last year.
Broidy's firm, Circinus, later received almost a $3.9 million contract from the U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command, or INSCOM, for unidentified intelligence services in August 2017, The Daily Beast reported Monday. Before that contract, the Virginia-based firm had only obtained a $7,501 in defense contracts from the Pentagon.
The August 2017 payment was the result of "administrative changes to the contract" that pushed the payment date back, according to The Daily Beast. In September of last year, Circinus was also granted a $242,011 contract from the Defense Security Service.
A person familiar with Circinius business operations told Newsweek the process for the INSCOM contract started in 2014 and Circinus was one of 10 small businesses honored with the contract. Broidy had not purchased Circinus until July 2015.
The source added that INSCOM saw value in Circinus after Broidy took over and hired considerable and capable staff. Circinus' work from 2011 to 2017 was focused more on subcontract work and thus would explain the firm's lack of revenue from government contracts, the individual said. "The government site only tracks prime holders revenue and not subcontract work, and the majority of Circinus revenue was through subcontracts," the source told Newsweek.
All told, Broidy's Circinus has seen a boom in defense contracts since Trump took office. In February, Circinus reached a "teaming" agreement with a Romanian state-run firm that could net the company $200 million, a person with knowledge of Circinus business operations told Newsweek. However, the individual also stated that Circinus does not presently have active contracts in Romania.
The revelation of lucrative federal government contracts follows an Associated Press report on Monday that detailed Broidy and business partner George Nader's attempts to lobby the Trump administration for princes from Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Broidy also got a $600 million intelligence contract from the UAE, the AP reported.
Representatives for Broidy did not immediately respond to questions from Newsweek. Broidy maintains that his emails were hacked by Qatar, and says some of them may have been fabricated.
Nader is cooperating with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Russia's interference in the 2016 election. He was previously convicted on child pornography charges, Newsweek reported in March. Nader was a key player in the meeting between Erik Prince and a Russian linked to President Vladimir Putin in Seychelles in January 2017, allegedly to create a backchannel between Russian and the Trump administration.
Prince has denied the accusation, but The New York Times reported Saturday that Prince, Nader and an Israeli social media expert also met with Donald Trump Jr., the president's eldest child, at Trump Tower in New York in August 2016 to offer help in the 2016 election.
Broidy also used his considerable influence within the GOP and the Trump administration to support the wife of the House Foreign Affairs Committee in her successful bid for a job in the State Department, Newsweek reported.
According to emails and documents exchanged by Nader and Broidy and obtained by the AP, Broidy had met with Trump on October 6 of last year and he wrote to Nader that "Trump was extremely enthusiastic" and Trump had "agreed" meeting the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, or MBZ, "was a good idea."
Broidy later had a second meeting with Trump on December 2, during which, he wrote to Nader, Broidy had conveyed to Trump that the crown princes were "most favorably impressed by his leadership" and Broidy had offered the "crown princes' help" in the Middle East peace plan under construction by senior White House adviser and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner.
In the days following that second meeting with Trump, Broidy landed a five-year $600 million contract with the UAE, the AP reported citing an email.
