Calley Means, a former adviser to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has publicly accused former White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and her close associates of diverting the administration’s health agenda to accommodate special interests, particularly the sugar industry, ahead of the 2024 midterm elections.
In a recent interview with the Joe Rogan Experience, Means said that Wiles and her “very close-knit crew,” which included deputy chiefs of staff James Blair and Richard Walters, policy adviser Walker Barrett, and pollster Tony Fabrizio, “explicitly catered to special interests against the will of the voters.” He claimed that this shift led to the abandonment of the “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) initiative, a program aimed at improving American diets and public health.
According to Means, the administration’s focus on fundraising for the midterms caused it to accept money from the sugar industry, a move he argues undermined efforts to promote healthier eating habits. He stated, “They would often say that we can’t do certain things because that would hurt special interest configuration for the midterms.”
Means also alleged that Wiles and Blair pressured the Department of Health and Human Services to approve flavored e-cigarettes, or vapes, which he claims would benefit the vaping industry. Blair has denied these accusations, saying he was “not promoting flavored vaping specifically at all” and that his role was to align the FDA’s nicotine delivery device application process with federal law.
Wiles was removed from her position as chief of staff on Friday, with Stephen Miller named as her replacement. Richard Walters also resigned the same day. The timing of these departures has fueled speculation that the administration’s shift in priorities may have contributed to the Republican Party’s unexpected losses in the recent midterm elections, where Democrats secured control of both chambers of Congress and a majority of governorships.
Means emphasized that President Trump may not have been fully aware of the extent to which his advisers were accepting industry money. He said, “I think a lot of this happened without Trump’s full knowledge. I don’t think President Trump fully knew that some of these advisers were taking money from the industries we ran on fighting against.”
Source: The Guardian World
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