WASHINGTON – A public dispute among former Trump administration officials over alleged corruption in public health policymaking has become the latest flashpoint in Republicans’ postelection blame game. The clash has revealed divisions within the White House and could realign political alliances around the influential Make America Healthy Again movement.
The controversy erupted Friday when Calley Means, a former senior adviser to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and a prominent MAHA advocate, appeared on Joe Rogan’s podcast. Means accused Susie Wiles, James Blair and others of serving foreign and domestic lobbyists rather than protecting Americans’ health.
Wiles, who was recently replaced as White House chief of staff, and Blair, a senior political adviser, have rejected the allegations.
Means made the claims days after voters participated in midterm elections in which government corruption ranked among the leading concerns. Republicans lost control of Congress as Democrats won those contests.
The dispute echoes long-standing concerns among MAHA activists, who oppose what they regard as systemic, damaging corporate influence over public policy. The movement became a significant part of Trump’s coalition after Kennedy endorsed him during the last presidential campaign. Any fracture could create political problems for Trump or open new avenues for congressional investigations in the years ahead.
Zen Honeycutt, a former Kennedy campaign staffer and founder of Moms Across America, said Means was “amplifying the frustrations that a lot of MAHA folks have had the past few months and validating them.” She said she was “excited for a new beginning” after Trump replaced Wiles with Stephen Miller, whom she considers more closely aligned with the movement.
Honeycutt, however, has not ruled out working with Democrats, including New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The two met in July to discuss shared environmental concerns, including the pesticide glyphosate and artificial intelligence data centers.
“The MAHA movement does not belong to any party or politician,” Honeycutt said.
Means alleges outside interests influenced policymaking
During the Rogan interview, Means described a conversation in which Wiles allegedly said she could not support certain MAHA initiatives because she needed financial backing from the sugar industry. “Calley, we can’t do this. I need sugar money,” Means recalled her saying. “I need the money from the sugar people to win the midterms.”
“There is a very concentrated group in the Trump administration that are antagonistic to what people voted for,” Means said. The episode was released Friday, shortly before Trump announced that Wiles would leave her post as White House chief of staff.
Means joined the White House as an adviser early in Trump’s second administration. From his position at the Department of Health and Human Services, he criticized leading physician groups, federal agencies and government scientists, arguing that they primarily served their own interests. He left the administration in October without giving a reason for his departure.
“She has taken a stranglehold on any policy decision” affecting the MAHA movement, Means said of Wiles, also referring to her former lobbying firm, Ballard Partners.
Speaking about Blair, Means said he had “explicitly catered to special interests against the will of the voters.” Means added that he believed much of the conduct he described “happened without Trump’s full knowledge.”
Blair, who previously served as a White House deputy chief of staff before taking an outside position in Trump’s political operation, said on social media that he was considering suing Means over the allegations.
In text messages reviewed by The Associated Press, Blair warned Means, “if you get near slandering or defaming me I will sue you,” and added, “if you are gonna try to knife me, I’m happy to return the favor.”
The White House rejected Means’ accusations.
“The Trump Administration has never allowed and will never allow outside groups to influence policy decisions,” White House spokeswoman Allison Schuster said.
Brian Ballard, the founder of Ballard Partners, also denied communicating with senior White House officials about glyphosate and other issues in a statement posted on social media.
MAHA support may be up for grabs
The unusually public feud, which continued on social media Monday, follows months of growing disillusionment among MAHA supporters over several administration decisions.
In recent months, grassroots activists who had hoped to work with Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency became increasingly critical of the agency and the administration. They argued that lobbyist interests had gained too much influence.
Activists highlighted former officials from the agricultural and chemical industries who had obtained senior EPA positions. They blamed those appointments for the administration’s failure to enact significant reforms addressing microplastics in drinking water and pesticide use on farms.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin pledged last December to release a formal agenda of MAHA policies he intended to pursue. By summer, however, the promised agenda had not appeared. An EPA spokesperson told the AP that MAHA was an ongoing initiative rather than a single report.
The apparent retreat led several activists to say they intended to vote across party lines on the issues in November’s elections.
“People are done with the profits of corporations being prioritized over public health,” Alexandra Muñoz, a molecular toxicologist who works with MAHA activists on some issues, told the AP in July. “And I think that will have an important role in the midterms.”
That underlying frustration, combined with Means’ allegations, could make MAHA voters more open to Democrats—an opportunity Means himself raised over the weekend.
“There’s a lot of complicated issues that I’m sure Democrats are going to want to address. But when it comes to these issues on MAHA, I think there is huge opportunity in the next year to get some big things done,” he told CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
Yet pursuing that opening would bring its own political challenges.
Democrats, who are set to control both chambers of Congress next year, could use Means’ statements to launch investigations into White House officials. Some Democratic lawmakers have already sought to scrutinize Kennedy over his changes to vaccine policy, major cuts to scientific research and other decisions. A forceful investigation could nevertheless make it harder for Democrats to build stronger relationships with MAHA supporters, many of whom continue to hold Kennedy in high regard.
Means’ interviews also featured an emphatic defense of Kennedy, who some observers have speculated could seek the presidency again in 2028. During the podcast, Means described Kennedy as a “hero.”
