"A lobbyist with this record of controversial
representation and a minefield of potential conflicts
of interest should not go near the Oval Office, much
less be White House chief of staff."
A government watchdog group said Friday that President-
elect Donald Trump has effectively signaled that the
incoming administration is open for business by
choosing longtime Republican strategist Susie Wiles—a
former lobbyist for the tobacco industry and other
sordid interests—as his White House chief of staff.
In a new report, Public Citizen shows that Wiles
represented at least 42 clients as a registered federal
government lobbyist between 2017 and 2024—corporate
influence-peddling that continued even while she helped
run Trump's 2024 presidential bid.
Among Wiles' clients, according to the watchdog group,
were:
A waste management company that has resisted removing
nuclear waste from its radioactive landfill;
A foreign copper and gold mining company that wants to
eliminate federal opposition to its plan to dig a
massive mine in a pristine watershed;
A tobacco company that sought to block federal health
restrictions on its candy-flavored cigars, which the
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has found are
attractive to kids;
A foreign news company whose owner has been indicted
for money laundering; and
A foreign mining private equity firm seeking approval
to develop an open-pit leach gold mine on federal
public lands.
"By putting a corporate lobbyist in charge of his
administration with his first act as president-elect,
Trump is hanging a 'For Sale' sign on the front door of
the White House," Jon Golinger, a democracy advocate at
Public Citizen and author of the new report. "A
lobbyist with this record of controversial
representation and a minefield of potential conflicts
of interest should not go near the Oval Office, much
less be White House chief of staff."
White House chief of staff is a powerful position that
does not require Senate approval. In the role, Wiles
will control the flow of information and those who have
access to the president as well as manage White House
personnel.
Trump's selection of Wiles flies in the face of his
previous pledge to "drain the swamp" and recent
criticism of the disproportionate influence lobbyists
wield in Washington, D.C.
"They're making a lot of money, absolutely," Trump
acknowledged in an August appearance on the "This Past
Weekend" podcast with comedian Theo Von. "One way you
could stop it is to say if you're going to go into
government, you can never be a lobbyist."
"You have to stop listening to lobbyists," Trump said.
"You know, I was not a big person for lobbyists."
In fact, according toProPublica, the first Trump
administration hired more than 280 lobbyists—one for
every 14 political appointments.
The campaign finance watchdog OpenSecrets reported in
2021 that Ballard Partners, Wiles' lobbying firm,
"increased its revenue with each year of Trump’s
presidency, peaking in 2020 with a $24.4 million haul."
"Wiles' lobbying client list is both extensive and
littered with controversial clients who stand to
benefit from having their former lobbyist running the
White House."
Corporate influence inside the second Trump
administration will likely be even stronger given the
presence of Wiles and other figures such as Elon Musk,
the world's richest man and a major beneficiary of
government contracts. Earlier this week, Trump tapped
Musk and biotech billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy to co-lead
a commission tasked with recommending sweeping cuts to
federal spending and regulations.
Public Citizen called Trump's decision to form such a
commission and place Musk at its helm "the ultimate
corporate corruption."
In its new report, the watchdog argued that a person
with Wiles' lobbying history "should not be White House
chief of staff."
But assuming she ultimately takes the position in
January, Public Citizen called on Wiles to disclose
details of her lobbying work, including "the names of
the individuals she lobbied, what she asked those
individuals to do or not to do, and what resulted from
her lobbying"; recuse herself from "all decision-making
involving her past lobbying clients and the federal
agencies that are making decisions that affect her
lobbying clients"; and agree not to lobby the federal
government again after she leaves the White House.
"Wiles' lobbying client list is both extensive and
littered with controversial clients who stand to
benefit from having their former lobbyist running the
White House," Public Citizen said Friday. "This
report's findings raise serious questions about
potential conflicts of interest that need to be
answered before Inauguration Day."
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