Calley Means, a former senior adviser to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., accused outgoing White House chief of staff Susie Wiles on Friday of steering the Trump administration toward corporate interests at the expense of its health agenda. His criticism came as President Trump announced that longtime White House adviser Stephen Miller would replace Wiles beginning the following week.
Speaking during a two-hour episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience,” Means alleged that Wiles and allies within and outside the White House had frustrated efforts to regulate kratom, flavored e-cigarettes and sugary beverages. Means, who helped develop the Make America Healthy Again movement, left the administration two weeks earlier after disputes with the White House and frustration over stalled priorities.
The former Health and Human Services official argued that a concentrated group within the administration opposed policies voters had supported. He singled out Wiles, alleging that she exercised extensive control over policy decisions and prioritized securing financial contributions from special interests for the administration and the Republican Party ahead of the midterm elections.
Means said Wiles repeatedly emphasized the need for campaign money and claimed she once told him, “I need the money from the sugar people to win the midterms.” He also criticized her previous lobbying career, alleging that she had accepted work from high-paying clients including pharmaceutical and pesticide interests and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The Hill reported that it had sought comment from the White House.
A central point of disagreement involved glyphosate, an ingredient in the weedkiller Roundup. In February, the administration issued an executive order seeking an adequate supply of glyphosate-based herbicides on national security grounds, provoking anger within the MAHA movement. The order came shortly before Supreme Court oral arguments in a case concerning whether Roundup manufacturer Bayer could receive immunity from lawsuits alleging the product caused cancer.
Means alleged that a member of Wiles’s staff presented him with the executive order and ruled out discussion. He also claimed Wiles contacted Kennedy’s office to deliver the same message. Separately, Means said Heidi Overton, the current nominee for FDA commissioner, worked with the Justice Department on a legal argument urging the Supreme Court to hear Bayer’s case and restrict its liability for certain pesticide-related health harms. The court ultimately heard the case and ruled in favor of the pesticide companies.
Means also faulted the administration for delays in establishing a definition of ultra-processed food, another MAHA objective. He attributed resistance to lobbying by food companies, arguing that even the effort to produce a definition had encountered intense opposition.
Kennedy responded to Wiles’s departure with a lengthy post on X defending the administration’s health efforts so far. He said he and Trump would continue fighting for health policies driven by the American public rather than corporate influence.
