A former insider who helped build the Make America Healthy Again movement has stepped forward to say that the people closest to the president have been bending public health toward the industries it was meant to challenge. The accusations, which the accused firmly deny, land at a moment when the chief of staff has already stepped away, leaving open the question of how much a single voice can reshape the course of power. Whether the charges are a reckoning or a grievance, they reflect an old human tension between the promises made to voters and the quiet pull of money and access.
Former Kennedy Aide Calley Means Accuses Trump Officials of Catering to Special Interests
Underneath Trump's nose, a group of former lobbyists catering to industry
Mark
Why does this interview matter beyond the Wiles headline?
Mimi
Because Means isn't an outsider. He helped build the MAHA alliance, so he's accusing the administration of abandoning its own campaign promises.
Luke
But these are allegations. What's actually confirmed?
Mimi
That the FDA authorized some flavored vapes in May, that tobacco lobbyists lunched with Trump at his golf course, and that Wiles resigned.
Luke
Does the resignation prove his claims?
Mimi
No. CBS says it's unclear whether his remarks played any part, and Wiles denies arranging the golf meeting.
Mark
What about Blair's response?
Mimi
He says he only pushed the FDA to meet the six-month decision rule. Two sources confirm that task, and that Trump wanted flavored vapes more available.
Luke
So both versions have support in part. The motive, money-for-midterms, is Means' claim alone.
Mark
And Overton?
Mimi
He alleges she traded policy help for the mRNA flu vaccine approval. The White House says she only changed the tone of a brief, and her spokesman cites two former commissioners backing her.
Luke
The mRNA meeting account is secondhand from Means, and nothing in the reporting confirms it.
Il Polso
- A former top aide to the health secretary accuses the president's inner circle of serving vaping, food, drug and pesticide interests.
- The chief of staff submits her resignation within days of the allegations, and no one can say whether the remarks tipped the balance.
- Denials come fast from the accused, while sources confirm the president pressed regulators to speed nicotine product approvals.
- Attention turns to the FDA nomination of a controversial pick and an EPA glyphosate review due in early 2027, both shaping whether the reform promises hold.
A former insider who helped build the Make America Healthy Again movement has stepped forward to say that the people closest to the president have been bending public health toward the industries it was meant to challenge. The accusations, which the accused firmly deny, land at a moment when the chief of staff has already stepped away, leaving open the question of how much a single voice can reshape the course of power. Whether the charges are a reckoning or a grievance, they reflect an old human tension between the promises made to voters and the quiet pull of money and access.
Calley Means, until recently a senior White House adviser and top aide to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has accused people around President Trump of serving industry rather than the voters who backed the administration's health agenda. Means helped found the Make America Healthy Again movement and helped revise the nation's dietary guidance before leaving. In a CBS interview, he said former lobbyists working inside the White House had catered to the vaping, ultra-processed food, pharmaceutical and pesticide industries, and he singled out chief of staff Susie Wiles and a close circle of advisers.
The most pointed claims concern flavored vapes. Means said Wiles and her deputy, James Blair, pressed HHS to approve fruit-flavored e-cigarettes, which the FDA later authorized in part. Blair denies promoting flavored vaping, saying he only pushed the agency to meet legal deadlines, and Means, he says, misrepresented his role. Sources confirm Trump tasked Blair with pressing the FDA to move faster on nicotine applications. Former commissioner Marty Makary, who was pushed out in May, said tobacco interests pressured him repeatedly and that he refused.
Days after the allegations, Wiles submitted her resignation, though it remains unclear whether Means's remarks played any part. Means also turned to pesticides, criticizing a glyphosate production order and a Supreme Court ruling shielding Monsanto, and he accused Heidi Overton, Trump's pick for FDA commissioner, of being the biggest obstacle to reform. The White House says Overton's role in the brief was minor. Means left with respect for the president and Kennedy, but with frustration over a stalled federal definition of ultra-processed food.
Calley Means, who until last month was a White House senior adviser and a top aide to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., sat down with Margaret Brennan for an interview that aired Sunday on "Face the Nation." His message was blunt: people around President Trump, he said, have been serving industry rather than the voters who backed the administration's health agenda.
Means helped found the "Make America Healthy Again" movement and helped build the 2024 alliance between Trump and Kennedy. He then served as Kennedy's top aide and helped lead HHS work on revising the country's dietary guidance before he resigned. He told Brennan that a group of former lobbyists, working "underneath Trump's nose," had catered to the vaping, ultra-processed food, pharmaceutical and pesticide industries, using the argument that the industries' money was needed for the midterms. He told CBS News that chief of staff Susie Wiles and "a very close-knit crew" of advisers were taking money from industries the movement had campaigned against.
The specific accusations came first on Friday, in an interview taped Thursday for "The Joe Rogan Experience," where Means urged Trump to "clear his house." He claimed Wiles and her deputy, James Blair, relentlessly pressed HHS to approve fruit-flavored vapes. In early May the FDA authorized some fruit-flavored e-cigarettes. Blair denied Means' account, telling CBS News he never promoted flavored vaping specifically and was tasked with making the FDA's process work as federal law dictates, with applicants getting a yes or no within six months. He said Means was intentionally misrepresenting his role. Two sources told CBS that Trump did task Blair with pushing then-FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary to respond faster to nicotine-industry applications, and acknowledged the president wanted flavored vapes to be more available. Trump promised as a 2024 candidate to "save" vaping.
Makary, pressed out in May amid reports of White House pressure, said in a statement that Big Tobacco used its connections to administration and HHS officials to pressure him repeatedly, and that he refused. He said the kratom/7-OH lobby ran the same playbook. Multiple sources also confirmed New York Times reporting that tobacco lobbyists lunched with Trump at his Florida golf course and pushed him on FDA e-cigarette regulation. Means said Wiles arranged that meeting; she denied it.
Wiles submitted her resignation Thursday night, according to a U.S. official and a senior White House adviser, and it became public shortly after Trump taped a "60 Minutes" interview Friday. Asked whether he meant to get her removed, Means said yes, arguing Trump had been subverted by people beholden to special interests. CBS notes it is unclear whether his remarks affected the president's decision to speed her departure.
Means also turned to pesticides. Earlier this year Trump signed an executive order boosting production of glyphosate, the Roundup ingredient the WHO calls probably carcinogenic to humans. Kennedy, who spent decades as a private attorney fighting Monsanto over it, told Congress in March he had made his displeasure clear and that the order came from the Pentagon on national security grounds. In June the Supreme Court ruled Monsanto cannot be held liable for failing to warn of alleged cancer risks. Means accused White House adviser Heidi Overton of working with the Justice Department on a brief urging the court to take the case. A senior White House official said the solicitor general wrote the brief at the court's request and that Overton changed only its "tone." An EPA review of glyphosate is expected to finish in early 2027.
Overton is Trump's August pick for FDA commissioner, endorsed by Kennedy. Means called her the biggest block to MAHA policies he encountered, alleging she did whatever Wiles told her. He said she told Makary she couldn't help on other policies unless he approved Moderna's mRNA flu vaccine, mFLUSIVA, which the FDA cleared in August for adults 50 and older. A spokesman for Overton said two former FDA commissioners think otherwise of her qualifications.
Means said he left with respect for Trump and Kennedy, but with frustration over a stalled federal definition of ultra-processed food. He said Stephen Miller, set to become chief of staff Monday, is not among the problem advisers. Next to watch: Overton's confirmation and the EPA's glyphosate review.
Citazioni salienti
I think President Trump has been subverted by people that are beholden to special interests.— Calley Means, on Face the Nation
Calley is intentionally misrepresenting my role and my responsibility.— James Blair, statement to CBS News
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Politics & Governance