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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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'Doing Intuit's Bidding,' Republicans Move to Officially Kill IRS Direct File
"Clearly corporate cronyism is more important to Republicans than lowering costs for ordinary Americans and increasing the efficiency of government services."
May 15, 2025
In addition to showering rich Americans and large corporations with more tax breaks, legislation that Republicans advanced out of committee on Wednesday would officially eliminate the Internal Revenue Service's popular and free Direct File program, which allowed eligible taxpayers to sidestep private prep companies that have lobbied relentlessly against government-offered alternatives for decades.
The tax legislation that the GOP-controlled House Ways and Means Committee approved in a party-line vote contains an underlooked provision that requires the U.S. Treasury Department to "ensure that the Internal Revenue Service Direct File program has been terminated."
The bill also opens the door to a "partnership between the IRS and private-sector tax preparation services to provide for free tax filing" to replace Direct File, which has been in the crosshairs of the Trump administration and the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency.
Watchdogs said the measure's language reeks of corporate influence.
"Corporate monopolist Intuit spent millions lobbying Republicans to insulate TurboTax from competition," said Hannah Garden Monheit, a senior fellow at the American Economic Liberties Project. "Now, House Republicans are doing Intuit's bidding by killing the Direct File program, which provided free, simplified public tax filing software beloved by its users."
"Direct File saves the average American $160 in filing fees and hours of time each year, and continuing it would save $11 billion annually," she added. "Expanding and improving Direct File should've been an easy win for DOGE, but clearly corporate cronyism is more important to Republicans than lowering costs for ordinary Americans and increasing the efficiency of government services."
"Trump will force you to fork out hundreds of dollars each year to TurboTax so he can give tax breaks to billionaires."
Direct File, which began as a pilot program during the 2024 tax filing season, threatened the dominance of Intuit and H&R Block, corporate giants that control the private tax preparation space and have been accused of engaging in deceptive marketing practices—particularly in their promotion of "free" services.
A report published earlier this year by the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen noted that both companies have donated heavily to Republican lawmakers, including members of the House Ways and Means Committee.
Late last year, dozens of House Republicans signed a letter urging the then-incoming Trump administration to eliminate the Direct File program. Letter signatories had received $1.8 million in campaign contributions from corporate interests opposing Direct File, including lobbyists for the private tax prep industry, according to Public Citizen.
"During the 2024 cycle, 19 of the Republican signers received a PAC contribution from either H&R Block or Intuit," Public Citizen found. "One of the letter's drafters, Rep. Adrian Smith (R-Neb.), received a PAC contribution from both companies."
The tax prep industry has also recently ramped up its lobbying efforts. NOTUSreported last month that "Intuit spent $3.7 million on federal lobbying in 2024, more money than it has ever spent on federal lobbying in a single year."
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, called Republicans' push to terminate Direct File "an under-the-radar" part of their tax plan.
"Trump will force you to fork out hundreds of dollars each year to TurboTax so he can give tax breaks to billionaires," Wyden wrote Wednesday.
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Outrage as House Republicans Advance 'Cruel and Reckless' Medicaid Cuts
"President Trump repeatedly promised Republicans were not going to cut Medicaid, but that was a lie since Republicans just voted for the largest Medicaid cut in history," noted one Democratic lawmaker.
May 14, 2025
A committee in the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives voted Wednesday to advance a bill containing deep cuts to Medicaid and other vital social services while rejecting every single Democratic amendment that would have protected access to healthcare for millions of the most vulnerable Americans.
After a marathon 26-hour session, the House Energy and Commerce Committee voted 30-24 along party lines for legislation that's part of the GOP budget reconciliation package, or U.S. President Donald Trump's desire for one "big, beautiful bill." The proposal—which is aimed at slashing $880 billion in federal spending—would give massive tax breaks to the wealthiest U.S. households and corporations while eviscerating social programs and cost an estimated $3.8 trillion through 2034.
"House Speaker Mike Johnson said his party wouldn't cut Medicaid. And then they did."
According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, as many as 13.7 million Americans would lose healthcare coverage by 2034 if the bill is passed as written. The proposal will now head to the House Budget Committee, which is set to convene Friday. Meanwhile, the House Agriculture Committee continued debating part of the reconciliation package that includes a $290 billion cut in funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
"It's outrageous Republicans forced this debate to occur late into the night when most of the country was asleep and couldn't see what they were up to," Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.) said Wednesday. "After 26 hours, Republicans failed to justify their draconian Medicaid cuts."
"The truth is Republicans want to rush this legislation through because they know the American people will be outraged by what's in the bill," Pallone added. "President Trump repeatedly promised Republicans were not going to cut Medicaid, but that was a lie since Republicans just voted for the largest Medicaid cut in history."
Ranking Member Pallone on the 26+ hour fight through the night to protect Americans against Republicans’ draconian health care cuts:
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— Energy and Commerce Democrats ( @energycommerce.bsky.social) May 14, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Rep. Lori Trahan (D-Mass.) noted that during the 26-hour session, House Republicans "rejected every single Democratic amendment... that would have protected Americans' healthcare, lowered out-of-pocket costs for working families, kept pollution out of our children's schools, and so much more."
"Instead, every Republican member of this committee voted to preserve a cruel and reckless bill that will rip health coverage away from millions of Americans," she added.
Activists and advocacy groups also decried Wednesday's vote, which came a day after more than two dozen demonstrators were arrested at the U.S. Capitol while protesting the bill.
"This partisan bill is nothing more than an attack on the healthcare system on which we all rely, to fund tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations," Anthony Wright, executive director of Families USA, said in a statement.
"Many Republicans on that committee said they wouldn't touch Medicaid and that the word Medicaid was not even in the bill," Wright added. "We can see that these were just empty promises, but we hope that other Republicans in the House and Senate come to their senses soon. The bill just doesn't cut Medicaid, it guts Medicaid."
This is who Trump and Republicans are targeting with their proposed Medicaid cuts.
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— CAP Action (@americanprogressaction.org) May 14, 2025 at 2:40 PM
People's Action Institute executive director Sulma Arias also issued a statement that began: "Promises made; promises broken. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said his party wouldn't cut Medicaid. And then they did."
"For months, Trump and House Republicans tried to hide the fact that they planned to cut Medicaid," Arias continued. "We warned the public that they were lying, and after this week's votes in committee, there can be no doubt."
"Medicaid is a lifeline for millions; when politicians take it away, they kill people," Arias added. "Through this budget, the billionaires and the bullies plan to do exactly that so they can steal these funds for themselves."
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Gabbard Fires Intel Officials After Memo Counters Trump Lies About Migrants Sent to El Salvador Prison
Critics called the ousters "ominous" and warned that "an intelligence service will not protect you from real-life threats if its members get fired for not lying."
May 14, 2025
Tulsi Gabbard, U.S. President Donald Trump's controversial director of national intelligence, is generating alarm this week for firing two top officials after a memo contradicting the administration's claims about deported migrants was made public.
As Fox News first reported Tuesday, Gabbard fired Mike Collins, acting chair of the National Intelligence Council, and his deputy, Maria Langan-Riekhof, and moved the NIC from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI).
As The Hilldetailed:
Collins has spent nearly three decades in the intelligence community and has served as chief of staff for the CIA's deputy director. He started his career as an analyst focused on East Asia.
Langan-Riekhof also has more than 30 years of experience in the intelligence community, including as an expert on the Middle East. The ODNI previously listed her as an exceptional analyst. She also previously served as director of the Strategic Futures Group at the National Intelligence Council.
While an ODNI spokesperson told The Hill that "the director is working alongside President Trump to end the weaponization and politicization of the intelligence community," critics framed the firings as "the DEFINITION of politicizing intelligence."
"I am concerned about the apparent removal of senior leadership at the National Intelligence Council without any explanation except vague accusations made in the media," Congressman Jim Himes (D-Conn.), the ranking member on the House Intelligence Committee, toldThe Washington Post. "Absent evidence to justify the firings, the workforce can only conclude that their jobs are contingent on producing analysis that is aligned with the president's agenda, rather than truthful and apolitical."
The NIC leaders were fired after last week's release of an NIC memo confirming that U.S. intelligence agencies never agreed with Trump's claim that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro controls the criminal gang Tren de Aragua. The April 7 document states that "while Venezuela's permissive environment enables TDA to operate, the Maduro regime probably does not have a policy of cooperating with TDA and is not directing TDA movement to and operations in the United States."
Although, as the Post noted, "it was unclear what, if any, direct role Collins or Langan-Riekhof had in drafting the assessment," its release provoked pushback from Gabbard, who said last week that it was "outrageous that as President Trump and his administration work hard every day to make America safe by deporting these violent criminals, some in the media remain intent on twisting and manipulating intelligence assessments to undermine the president's agenda to keep the American people safe."
Trump has used dubious claims about Maduro controlling the gang to justify invoking the Alien Enemies Act to send hundreds of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador's notorious Terrorism Confinement Center as part of his mass deportation agenda.
Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chair Mark Warner (D-Va.) said on social media Wednesday: "Gabbard is purging intelligence officials over a report that the Trump administration finds politically inconvenient. Whatever the administration is trying to protect... it's not our national security."
Other critics called Gabbard's moves "ominous" and warned that "an intelligence service will not protect you from real-life threats if its members get fired for not lying."
The U.S. intelligence community (IC) "provides analysis independent of policy preferences," said James Madison University professor and former CIA analyst Stephen Marrin. "When those in power do not want to hear inconvenient facts and unwanted interpretation and punish messengers that provide it, that undermines the reason the IC was created in the first place."
Jonathan Panikoff, a former career U.S. intelligence officer who is now a director in the Atlantic Council's Middle East Program, said that "having spent five years working at the NIC, I can personally attest the [organization] is the heartbeat of apolitical U.S. all-source analysis, traditionally drawing the best of the IC's analysts together to tackle and produce assessments on the hardest issues. Anything that reduces its independence because policymakers don't like the independent conclusions it reaches, is the definition of politicization they are decrying. Mike and Maria are unbelievable leaders and IC professionals, not political actors."
Eric Brewer, who also worked for NIC, expressed full agreement with Panikoff's "excellent comments" and issued his own warning.
"This is a big deal. The result will be an IC less willing to tell the president and other leaders what they need to know rather than what they want to hear. America will be less secure because of it," Brewer said. "The professionals in the IC can withstand a lot, and will no doubt do their utmost to continue to provide objective assessments. But this act is blatant politicization and will have a chilling effect."
The memo that seemingly led to the NIC firings was revealed as a result of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed by the Freedom of the Press Foundation. Lauren Harper, the group's Daniel Ellsberg chair on government secrecy, shared the Post's reporting about the ousters on social media Wednesday along with an observation.
"The director of national intelligence's FOIA website (which has reappeared after the entire site was briefly down) no longer has a reading room of released documents or links to its FOIA regulations which, were we to be picky, violates the EFOIA amendments of 1996," Harper highlighted. "Amazing timing."
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