May, 05 2025, 02:44pm EDT
Trump’s Chief of Staff Susie Wiles was a Corporate Lobbyist. Now, Her Former Clients are Lobbying the White House.
Six of White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles’ former lobbying clients – including a tobacco company she was lobbying for just last year – have disclosed that they have lobbied the White House offices that Wiles now oversees on public health regulations, AI policy, tariffs and trade, in the first three months of the Trump Administration.
That’s according to a new report authored by Public Citizen Democracy Advocate Jon Golinger that examines the first federal lobbying disclosures filed in late April 2025 that disclose federal lobbying activity during the first three months of the Trump Administration.
The new filings reveal that a longtime Wiles’ lobbying client that has been actively lobbying the Trump White House is Swisher International, a tobacco company that has been engaged in regulatory and legal battles with the Food and Drug Administration over public health restrictions aimed at preventing kids from smoking its “Swishers Sweets” flavored cigarettes. In addition to Swisher’s own company lobbyists, Swisher paid a lobbying firm led by Wiles’ daughter to lobby the White House.
Wiles’ other former lobbying clients who disclosed lobbying the White House during January-March 2025 are:
- Mosaic: a fertilizer producer lobbying on critical minerals and trade
- Kruger: a toilet paper and packaging company lobbying on tariffs
- Zeta Global: a digital marketing company lobbying on AI policy
- Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions: lobbying on tax credits
- General Motors: lobbying on autonomous vehicles and fuel economy.
Golinger said this level of high-placed access with no ethical guardrails raises red flags that erode public trust.
“These lobbyist disclosures should make every American ask how corporate interests are influencing this White House,” said Golinger. “Chief of Staff Wiles should disclose whether she has been involved in meetings or discussions regarding her former lobbying clients, reveal whether she has been engaged in decision-making about any issues she lobbied the government on and recuse herself going forward from any matters that could benefit her former clients.”
Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization that champions the public interest in the halls of power. We defend democracy, resist corporate power and work to ensure that government works for the people - not for big corporations. Founded in 1971, we now have 500,000 members and supporters throughout the country.
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Michigan AG Drops Charges Against Pro-Palestinian Campus Protesters
"Our First Amendment rights should never be criminalized. Speaking up against genocide should be lifted up, not slammed with felony charges. Palestinians deserve safety and dignity," said Rep. Rashida Tlaib.
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Advocates for student protesters and other critics of the U.S.-backed Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip celebrated on Monday after Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel dropped all charges against seven people arrested last year at the University of Michigan amid allegations of bias that the Democrat rejected.
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Nessel is Jewish, and on May 2, the Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor submitted to the court a letter defending her against accusations of bias. The attorney general cited the letter in her new statement.
"Baseless and absurd allegations of bias have only furthered this divide," Nessel said. "The motion for recusal has been a diversionary tactic which has only served to further delay the proceedings. And now, we have learned that a public statement in support of my office from a local nonprofit has been directly communicated to the court. The impropriety of this action has led us to the difficult decision to drop these charges."
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The defendants—Oliver Kozler, Samantha Lewis, Henry MacKeen-Shapiro, Michael Mueller, Asad Siddiqui, Avi Tachna-Fram, and Rhiannon Willow—had pleaded not guilty. The Detroit Free Pressreported that one of Nessel's deputies, Robyn Liddell, made the motion to dismiss the case and the defendants "hugged each other, smiled, and posed for a photo with their attorneys in the courtroom."
According to the newspaper:
The courtroom was packed with spectators, many of them wearing keffiyehs. They burst into applause at the decision and began chants of "Free Palestine."
Amir Makled, who represented Lewis, said the charges never should have been brought.
"This was not about trespass, this was not about a felony conduct," Makled said. "This was the criminalization of free speech, and today, the state of Michigan agrees."
State Rep. Dylan Wegela (D-26) said on social media Monday: "This is great news. It takes courage to stand up for what is right. The charges should have never been pursued in the first place. I'm glad the students maintained their innocence and didn't accept a plea deal."
Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) similarly declared, "Good news for our university student communities!"
"Our First Amendment rights should never be criminalized," added Tlaib, the only Palestinian American in Congress. "Speaking up against genocide should be lifted up, not slammed with felony charges. Palestinians deserve safety and dignity."
Union organizer Anne Elias said that "this prosecution was wrong and I think public pressure on Dana Nessel worked. I feel such relief for our students and community members, as this was a complete surprise for them today."
"[Democrats] largely own this mess, and we must identify the political entanglements—[especially] with President Ono resigning," Elias added, referring to Santa Ono, who is on track to leave his post at the University of Michigan to lead the University of Florida.
In addition to coming under fire for this case, Nessel was criticized late last month for raids of pro-Palestine student organizers' homes that her office said were "not related to protest activity on the campus of the University of Michigan," but "in furtherance of our investigation into multijurisdictional acts of vandalism."
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The SBPC joined nearly 200 other organizations in sending a letter to the acting undersecretary of education, James Bergeron, condemning the administration's efforts to gut income-driven repayment options and eliminate the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, which has delivered student debt relief to 1 million public service workers since it was implemented in 2007.
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More than 42 million Americans have student debt, with more than $1.6 trillion owed in total. More than 5 million borrowers are currently in default, and that number could grow to about 10 million as the Trump administration ends programs that have been aimed at helping people pay off their loans in manageable amounts each month.
Collections are beginning months after Republican-led lawsuits succeeded in blocking former President Joe Biden's Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan, and days after the GOP members of the House Education and Workforce Committee advanced more than $350 billion in proposed funding cuts for education programs—cuts that government watchdog Accountable.US said are "paving the way for tax cuts for themselves, billionaire donors, and corporations."
The Republicans approved:
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The Debt Collective, a union of student loan borrowers, pointed out that the Trump administration isn't required by law to begin collecting student debt on Monday.
"They're just cruel and want to take as much as possible from the folks who have very little," said the group.
Aside from garnishing borrowers' wages, the administration could further devastate millions of people as credit scores could tank when the Education Department begins collection activity.
The Federal Reserve projected in March that people with delinquencies could see their credit scores plummet by as many as 171 points, leading to higher costs for borrowers who later take out mortgages, car loans, and sign up for credit cards.
U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) called President Donald Trump's threat to garnish wages in order to collect student debt "unconscionable."
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"This administration is not streamlining the federal government; they are sabotaging it and all of us," said New York Attorney General Letitia James.
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A coalition of 20 attorneys general on Monday sued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and other Trump administration officials in federal court over cuts to the agency, arguing that "dismantling" and "paralyzing" it through terminations and reorganizations is an "unlawful effort" to undercut Congress.
The lawsuit focuses on a March 27 directive that unveiled sweeping changes to HHS, and the plaintiffs are requesting that the court declare the directive unlawful, arguing that it is unconstitutional and violates the Administrative Procedure Act.
"This administration is not streamlining the federal government; they are sabotaging it and all of us," said New York Attorney General Letitia James, one of the attorneys general leading the lawsuit, in a statement on Monday. "When you fire the scientists who research infectious diseases, silence the doctors who care for pregnant patients, and shut down the programs that help firefighters and miners breathe or children thrive, you are not making America healthy—you are putting countless lives at risk."
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"Secretary Kennedy refused to undertake this restructuring legally or carefully," according to the suit, which also highlights that the steep reductions in staff were not slated to yield significant savings.
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In addition to attorneys general from Rhode Island and New York, the plaintiffs includes state attorneys general from Washington; Arizona; California; Colorado; Connecticut; Delaware; Washington, D.C.; Hawaii; Illinois; Maine; Maryland; Michigan; Minnesota; New Jersey; New Mexico; Oregon; Vermont; and Wisconsin.
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