Calley Means, a former senior adviser to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has publicly accused former White House chief of staff Susie Wiles of orchestrating a campaign to shift responsibility for contentious health policy decisions onto President Trump. Means, a central figure in the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement who left the administration last month, made the allegation in a lengthy post on X Monday.
In his post, Means charged that Wiles and veteran lobbyist Brian Ballard are working to insulate themselves from blowback by casting Trump as the architect of policies that Means says were shaped by corporate interests. “I want everyone in the White House to know that Susie is executing a systematic strategy to throw President Trump under the bus,” Means wrote.
The accusation follows Means’s recent appearances on Joe Rogan’s podcast and CBS News’s “Face the Nation,” where he claimed that top aides—including former deputy chief of staff Richard Walters and deputy chief of staff James Blair—prioritized corporate concerns in policy development. His comments have intensified internal tensions over the administration’s approach to public health and agriculture.
Ballard issued a rare statement Monday rejecting Means’s claims and denying that his firm lobbied the Oval Office on the matters in question. “I do not ordinarily respond to commentary about our firm,” Ballard said. “I am making an exception today because Calley Means has made specific claims about Ballard Partners that are false, and the record should be corrected.” He added: “No one at Ballard Partners lobbied or communicated with Susie Wiles or anyone in the West Wing, including her Deputy Chiefs of Staff, regarding the Administration’s executive order on glyphosate.”
Means countered Ballard’s denial by citing a federal lobbying disclosure that shows Ballard Partners—the firm where Wiles previously worked—reported lobbying the White House on agricultural issues for Bayer, the manufacturer of the weedkiller Roundup. The filing, covering the first quarter of 2026, lists Brian Ballard among the lobbyists on the account and shows the firm received $90,000 from Bayer during that period.
In February, Trump signed an executive order aimed at expanding production of glyphosate, the key ingredient in Roundup. The order described glyphosate as “a cornerstone of this Nation’s agricultural productivity and rural economy,” a characterization that infuriated MAHA supporters who view the herbicide as a health risk.
“Brian Ballard said in writing he didn’t lobby Susie or White House staff on glyphosate. Since Ballard’s disclosure below said he personally lobbied the White House in the quarter of the EO’s release, he is either lying or throwing President Trump under the bus,” Means wrote.
The dispute underscores a broader fight within Trump’s orbit over the influence of corporate lobbying on health and environmental policy. It also comes as the administration navigates the political aftermath of the midterm elections, with some Republicans pressing for a sharper focus on kitchen-table issues. As the GOP weighs its future direction, internal clashes like this one could complicate efforts to present a unified front.
Neither the White House nor Ballard Partners immediately responded to requests for further comment. Means has not indicated whether he plans to take additional action beyond his public statements.
