Key facts
- Means told CBS News that Wiles and her crew explicitly catered to special interests against the will of the voters.
- Means said Wiles and James Blair pressured the Department of Health and Human Services to approve flavored e-cigarettes.
- Blair denied the claim to CBS News, saying he did not promote flavored vaping specifically at all.
- Means said pollster Tony Fabrizio advised against defining ultra-processed foods while taking money from PepsiCo.
- The White House said the administration has never allowed outside groups to influence policy decisions.
- Kennedy said on X that entrenched interests have exercised power in Washington under both parties for decades.
Calley Means, who resigned two weeks before the report from his job advising Robert F Kennedy Jr, accused Susie Wiles of stalling the Make America healthy again agenda by prioritizing special interest groups and fundraising before the midterms, in a podcast interview with Joe Rogan on Friday and in comments to CBS News.
Wiles, whom Donald Trump removed as White House chief of staff last week, left the administration on Friday and was replaced by Stephen Miller. Means told CBS News that Wiles and her "very close-knit crew", including White House deputy chiefs of staff James Blair and Richard Walters, policy adviser Walker Barrett and Trump pollster Tony Fabrizio, "explicitly catered to special interests against the will of the voters".
Means told Rogan: "I mean, it's why we lost the midterms. We have been discordant from what was run on, two years ago." He said he did not think Trump fully knew that some advisers were taking money from industries the campaign ran against.
Among the allegations, Means said Wiles did not support efforts to make American diets healthier because the administration needed money from "the sugar people" for the midterms. He also accused Wiles and Blair of pressuring the Department of Health and Human Services to approve flavored e-cigarettes.
Blair denied the claims to CBS News, saying he "didn't promote flavored vaping specifically at all" and was tasked with aligning the Food and Drug Administration's nicotine delivery device application process with federal law. He said Means was intentionally misrepresenting his role because he opposes the issue. On social media, Blair threatened to sue Means and accused him of lying.
Means also claimed Fabrizio refused to support several Maha initiatives while taking money from industry giants and pharmaceutical companies, and said Fabrizio had advised against defining "ultra-processed foods" while taking money from PepsiCo.
Kennedy posted a statement to X on Friday saying: "I stand firmly behind President Trump and the historic reforms we are advancing together." He said entrenched interests have exercised power in Washington under both parties for decades and that Trump and he intend to keep fighting until the American people, not corporate influence, drive health policy.
The White House said: "The Trump Administration has never allowed and will never allow outside groups to influence policy decisions." It cited the largest working-class tax cuts in history, over a million private sector jobs added, a sealed border and the lowest violent crime in nearly a century.
Republicans have been looking for someone to blame for losses in last week's midterm election. Democrats took both chambers of Congress, a majority of governor offices and flipped dozens of House seats, according to the report.