A former Robert F. Kennedy Jr. adviser, Calley Means, alleges that Susie Wiles, President Donald Trump’s chief of staff, ran a pay-to-play office system, with special-interest money taking priority over policy.
For two years, I worked to advance voter promises of President Trump and RFK.
— Calley Means (@calleymeans) November 6, 2026
But when this level of subversion to voter intent is taking place by Ballard lobbyists, I believe the most effective thing you can do is tell the truth. pic.twitter.com/eHDfgd0JJo
The claims swept in just as Wiles was walking away from one of the most powerful job positions in the White House.
President Donald Trump on Nov. 6 announced that his deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, would now take over from Susie Wiles as White House chief of staff effective Nov. 9, and that Wiles would move to the Trump Political Operation.
Calley Means, who led the MAHA implementation as a senior adviser and just resigned, speaking in Joe Rogan’s interview, said the soon-to-be former chief of staff used her power to build a political and money-driven culture inside the White House — where what donors wanted mattered more than what was good policy, and where Wiles herself sat right at the center of it.
Under that alleged system, came a point as every policy decision needed approval from Wiles’s office, and the Cabinet was instructed to follow republican pollster Tony Fabrizio.
Who, according to Means, advised that school lunch reform and a federal definition of ultra-processed food were not worth the political cost, and that Fabrizio’s clients include Pepsi and pharmaceutical companies.
‘If you’re a special interest and you want to get something done, the secret’s out. You pay Susie’s daughter, and it was openly discussed when they had a client,’ Means told Rogan.
In a burst of energy before she died, my mom urged us to take her to where she’d be buried.
Cupping my dad’s face, she talked about how magical their life was together.
It was the most profound moment of my life, and it wouldn’t have happened if we listened to her doctors.…
pic.twitter.com/oOskq4Lh7D— Calley Means (@calleymeans)
January 9, 2024
According to him, Wiles allegedly was a major cause that led to MAHA projects being abandoned.
‘Susie said to me many times: “We need money for the midterms, Calley. We need money for the midterms,”‘ Means added
The alleged arrangement gave companies a route to senior White House officials through two lobbying firms. Clients of Continental Strategy, where Wiles’s daughter Katie was a director, were allegedly given priority, while companies that hired Ballard Partners, Susie Wiles’s former firm, could secure meetings with the chief of staff.
Continental’s revenue rose from almost nothing to about $30 million a year after Trump returned to office later that year.
A conflict-of-interest controversy swept in when a photograph posted on IG by Katie, Susie Wiles’s daughter, showed Katie holding a rifle beside Željko Budimir, Republika Srpska’s interior minister.
But, Continental Strategy debunked that the trip was for a separate U.S. company’s feasibility study, that Wiles had not spoken with U.S. officials to Republika Srpska,
White House official later argued that a September White House meeting between Susie Wiles and a Republika Srpska official was arranged by another Continental Strategy partner, Alex Garcia, not Katie Wiles.
Meanwhile, Continental’s FARA filing in February shows a $35,000-a-month contract with Srpska.
One of Wiles’s former lobbying clients was SI Group Client Services, associated with tobacco company Swisher International.
Between January 2023 and March 2024, Swisher paid lobbying firms to press Congress on tobacco issues, including FDA regulations. About $120,000 went to Mercury Public Affairs for lobbying work involving Wiles, according to Public Citizen.
Separately, the Powerhouse Ex to be chief of staff was listed as a lobbyist for the Pebble Partnership in 2019, that was associated with Northern Dynasty Minerals, which pursued a proposed mine in Alaska. Northern Dynasty Minerals was listed as its owner.
“Americans did not vote to have a group of lobbyists from Tallahassee be slowing down every policy that people voted for, Means argued.
Five companies and one nonprofit previously represented by Wiles, including Mosaic, Kruger and more, tried to influence the White House during Trump’s first three months in office, according to Public Citizen.
Separately, POGO found that Ballard was using its Trump ties to recruit clients seeking oil business in Venezuela after Maduro’s capture and access to the Trump administration.
In 2019, Wiles registered as a foreign agent representing Nigeria’s People’s Democratic Party, with her work involving the party’s relations with U.S. government officials, businesses and other organizations. Documents showed payments from the Nigerian party to her lobbying firm, which totalled about $269,980.
A combosum fight arose when defense lawyers subpoenaed Wiles to testify in a case involving David Rivera and Raúl Gorrín, in relation to her work at Ballard Partners in 2017 and 2018 for Globovision, Gorrín’s Venezuelan TV network.
The Trump DOJ moved to block her testimony, saying Wiles had “no apparent connection” to the claims that the defendants acted as unregistered agents of Venezuela. A federal judge granted the DOJ’s request, and Wiles did not testify.
Trump’s announcement was one of praise. He wrote: “I want to thank her for her service as Chief of Staff — She has done a great job!”
Wiles said in her own post that her commitment to the president and his mission would not change. Neither statement mentions the allegations.
