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Former White House senior adviser Calley Means’ Nov. 6 interview with Joe Rogan about corporate corruption in the federal government sparked a “firestorm in Washington,” according to CBS News “Face the Nation” moderator Margaret Brennan, who spoke with Means one day after the interview aired.
Washington, D.C., is riddled with “systemic” corruption in which many White House staffers and U.S. lawmakers prioritize corporate lobbyists’ wishes over popular voter issues, including healthier food for school kids and allowing people who get cancer from glyphosate to sue pesticide makers, Means said on “The Joe Rogan Experience.”
Although Means said corporate corruption has been plaguing the federal government for 30 years, he made specific allegations against key Trump administration staffers, including former White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, a former lobbyist and political consultant for the pharmaceutical and pesticide industries and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; Wiles’ aides James Blair, Walker Barrett and Richard Walters; and Tony Fabrizio, a top pollster for the administration.
Means alleged that Wiles and the others he named had connections to lobbying firms — including Ballard Partners, which represents glyphosate-maker Bayer, e-cigarette-maker Reynolds America, and Continental Strategies. He accused them of being largely responsible for undermining the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement’s agenda without President Donald Trump’s full knowledge.
Means is now readying himself to face a backlash lawsuit after Blair threatened to bring a defamation suit against him, The Wall Street Journal reported on Nov. 8.
“The implication of corruption towards me and all the others referenced by Calley is scurrilous, false, and defamatory,” Blair told the WSJ.
Ballard has also denied the scope of Means allegations, CBS News reported on Nov. 10.
Ballard Partners reported more than $88 million in lobbying revenue in 2025 — a record for any lobbying firm since federal reporting began in 1996, even after adjusting for inflation, according to a CBS News analysis of U.S. Senate records. The firm has already broken that record in 2026, reporting more than $98 million in revenue through September.
In a Nov. 10 post on X, Means asked that Wiles, Ballard Partners, Continental Strategies and “other relevant parties immediately preserve all potentially relevant records and communications, including:
- All communications between Susie Wiles, Ballard Partners, and their representatives concerning lobbying access, meetings, policy decisions, and corporate clients.
- All communications involving Bayer, Monsanto, Ballard Partners, and White House officials concerning glyphosate, the national security executive order, and the administration’s position in Supreme Court litigation involving Bayer.
- All communications concerning sugar-industry political contributions, fundraising commitments, and discussions about how those interests related to federal nutrition policy.
- All communications involving Tony Fabrizio, food-industry representatives, and White House officials concerning MAHA initiatives, school nutrition standards, and the proposed federal definition of ultra-processed foods.
- All drafts, internal correspondence, meeting notes, and communications involving Walker Barrett, Heidi Overton, and other relevant officials concerning the glyphosate executive order and Bayer litigation, including discussions about Secretary Kennedy’s involvement.
- All relevant lobbying agreements, invoices, payment records, meeting calendars, visitor logs, and communications concerning corporate efforts to influence the policy decisions discussed in my interview – including from Continental Strategy.
- All nonprivileged communications concerning my allegations, their factual accuracy, and any contemplated legal action arising from my interview.
‘I’m not here to just beat up on Susie’
Means told Rogan that Wiles and her deputies were part of a larger bipartisan pattern in which government workers prioritize corporate interests over what most voters want.
“I’m not here to just beat up on Susie or James,” he said. “These are case studies. … The president needs to exorcise these people from the administration, but that’s not the root cause of the problem.”
The root problem is “structural,” Means said. To fix it, the U.S. needs to pass a constitutional amendment that forbids federal government workers from taking lobbying money. “Why do we have corporations able to totally rig the system?” Means asked.
On Monday, Means wrote in another X post:
“The Joe Rogan episode has caused cultural impact because everyone watching knows it’s true. Susie — I’m not intimidated and you will not scare me. Again, please stop sending me emotional texts. This is not personal — this is civilizational.
“If America doesn’t move on from the revolting version of politics you represent, our country will cease to exist. A lot of Americans feel that.”
Children’s Health Defense (CHD) CEO Mary Holland told The Defender, “While it’s important that Means names names, it’s not about individuals at this point — it’s about a broken system that is harming all of our health, but especially children’s health.”
Calley Means says the problem isn’t Trump or RFK Jr. It’s lobbyists inside the White House. Voters backed MAHA, not donor deals. @CHDTVLive @CHD_TheDefender @ChildrensHD
Read The Defender:
https://t.co/g0XVCpxIy6 https://t.co/ek6zkrawBx
— Mary S. Holland, Esq. (@maryhollandnyc) November 10, 2026
It is time for a change, Holland said. “We have a bipartisan system that has promoted the poisoning of people for profit for decades. The liability protections for Big Pharma and Big Ag are an outrage.”
In 1986, Congress passed a law granting liability protection to vaccine manufacturers, making it nearly impossible for someone injured by a vaccine to sue the vaccine maker.
A June U.S. Supreme Court decision effectively granted liability protection to glyphosate manufacturers.
Means claimed that Wiles, without Trump’s knowledge, involved outside legal advisers connected to Bayer’s law firm to persuade the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to write a December 2025 memo urging the U.S. Supreme Court to take up a glyphosate liability case.
After writing that brief, the DOJ also issued a March 2026 amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to side with Bayer, U.S. Right to Know reported.
On June 25, the Supreme Court ruled in Bayer’s favor, a decision with potentially far-reaching implications for lawsuits alleging that Bayer failed to warn victims that exposure to Roundup could cause cancer.
Means said Trump didn’t know the DOJ supported the Supreme Court’s ruling in favor of Bayer. He told Rogan, “His initial reaction was that that’s a terrible decision.”
Doctors back Means’ allegations
Dr. Meryl Nass wrote in a Nov. 9 Substack post that in the fall of 2025, U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told her Trump was against the pesticide liability shield.
Nass wrote:
“Bayer had probably been negotiating with the Susie Wiles team over time, and finally offered an attractive enough benefit that Susie got the Trump administration to flip and tell the DOJ to write a brief or two favoring Bayer.
“Or, Bobby [Kennedy] had been told a lie. Or Bobby lied to me — but since I have never caught him in a lie to me, I doubt that.”
Means also alleged that Wiles and others in Washington, D.C., pressured former U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Marty Makary to approve e-cigarettes for children.
Makary corroborated Means’ allegation by telling CBS News, “Big tobacco exploited their connections to administration and HHS officials to put repeated pressure on me to approve fruit-flavored vapes that appeal to children — I wouldn’t do it.”
In May, Makary left the FDA. The FDA approved the products shortly before his resignation, Reuters reported.
Means also alleged that Wiles and others close to her tried to influence the FDA’s handling of Moderna’s mRNA flu vaccine and psychedelics.
Dr. Vinay Prasad, who under Makary directed the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, the federal agency that oversees vaccine approval, corroborated Means’ allegations. “On topics where I had first hand knowledge, my impressions are similar to his,” Prasad wrote on Substack.
In March, Prasad left the FDA for a second and final time.
In a statement to CBS News, Wiles denied Means’ allegation that she had arranged a meeting between tobacco industry representatives and Trump to discuss vape policy at his golf course.
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Will Susie Wiles’ replacement be better on MAHA issues?
On Nov. 6, Trump dismissed Wiles as his chief of staff and tapped Stephen Miller as her replacement. Kennedy welcomed Miller’s appointment on X, calling him the “strongest MAHA supporter in the administration” next to himself.
Next to me, Stephen Miller is the strongest MAHA supporter in the administration. It’s time to unleash the Kraken.
— Secretary Kennedy (@SecKennedy) November 6, 2026
In his interview with “Face the Nation,” Means said Wiles’ departure is an opportunity for bipartisan collaboration on key health issues of importance to voters, not corporations.
Miller could likely help Kennedy and Trump accomplish “transformative things” by working with Democrats toward MAHA goals, Means said.
Means added that Miller “wants to get the same things done that Elizabeth Warren and … other people are running on. And I think there is a major opportunity to come together and get some big things done, which, quite frankly, we have to do.”
Related articles in The Defender
- Susie Wiles, Corporate Lobbyists Derailed Key MAHA Reforms, Calley Means Tells Joe Rogan
- ‘True Corruption’: Agency Capture Responsible for Chronic Disease Epidemic in U.S.
- IRS Cracks Down on Deductions for Healthy Food, Exercise as Childhood Chronic Disease Epidemic Explodes
- Trump Directs USDA to Make More Glyphosate, Signals Liability Protection for Pesticide Makers
- U.S. Supreme Court Sides with Pesticide Giant Bayer in Landmark Cancer Lawsuit
