Top Rfk Jr. Ally Bashes Trump Admin After Quitting

Calley Means, former senior adviser to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., torched now-former White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and several of President Donald Trump’s top advisers, laying the blame at their feet for stalled progress on populist platforms like the Make America Healthy Again movement.

In an episode of the popular “Joe Rogan Experience” podcast that aired Friday, Means said Wiles, deputy chief of staff Richard Walters, assistant to the president for policy Walker Barrett, top political strategist James Blair and Trump pollster Tony Fabrizio killed the MAHA movement’s momentum and stalled the priorities that he believes Trump and Kennedy were ushered into Washington to deliver.

“These people just, and I don’t mean this like in a really dismissive way, these aren’t the best and brightest, these staffers. They have tremendous power, though,” Means told Rogan, who has often promoted the MAHA movement. “But they're just like D.C., you know, they play the game, and yeah, it’s crazy.”

Means suggested Trump fire them all.

“I would recommend that he clear his house, and I think he’s getting there,” Means said.

The interview, Means’ first since resigning from the Trump administration last month, comes three days after Republicans suffered a humiliating defeat at the polls, losing both chambers of Congress.

Means cited the disillusionment of many MAHA devotees as part of a broader disappointment from voters who felt Trump did not deliver on populist promises from his 2024 campaign.

“I mean, it’s why we lost the midterms. We have been discordant from what was run on two years ago,” Means said.

“The Administration has already secured extensive victories for the MAHA Agenda, including overhauling the dietary guidelines for Americans, axing artificial ingredients in our food supply, and investing in regenerative farming,” White House spokesperson Allison Schuster said in a statement. “President Trump and Secretary Kennedy continue to work around the clock to deliver more wins for the American people.”

An HHS spokesperson referred to a Friday afternoon social media post from Kennedy.

“Draining the swamp is a mandate, and we have an obligation to deliver. Entrenched interests have exercised power in Washington under both parties for decades,” Kennedy wrote on X. “I stand firmly behind President Trump and the historic reforms we are advancing together.”

Blair pushed back strongly on Means’ categorizations, defending his work on MAHA issues.

“I have literally no idea what Calley Means is talking about. He’s literally just making shit up for media attention,” Blair said. “I helped get Secretary Kennedy confirmed. I helped get the pesticide liability shield removed from the appropriations bill, which members are on the record about. This is just made up stuff. A pathetic attempt at a political knifing. Call me, Calley.”

Means resigned at the end of October following repeated unsuccessful attempts to push through federal policy on ultraprocessed foods. MAHA advocates hoped the effort would prompt new government regulations and spur healthier eating. But establishing a definition was opposed by the food industry, which warned the move would lead to higher food prices at a time when voters were focused on the cost of living.

The ultraprocessed food fight was only one among several incidents over the past two years where MAHA advocates felt disregarded by the Trump’s White House.

A White House MAHA report that named glyphosate, a widely used herbicide, as a potential driver of Americans’ high rates of chronic disease perhaps most epitomized this dynamic. Means described the fallout as “an almost violent reaction from industry.” A second MAHA report didn’t mention glyphosate at all, which Means alleged was a result of industry pressuring Wiles.

Glyphosate is the key ingredient in the popular weedkiller Roundup. Lobbyists for Bayer, which manufactures the product, pushed for White House support in their bid to block lawsuits alleging their products cause cancer. The White House ultimately sided with Bayer in an amicus brief in the Supreme Court’s Monsanto v. Durnell case, prompting widespread frustration among MAHA advocates.

Means said that Kennedy — who had spent decades suing pesticide companies — wasn’t consulted when the White House decided to support glyphosate companies at the Supreme Court or in an executive order.

“Both of these things were completely done without Bobby Kennedy throughout any policy process,” Means said. “What they frequently did is they tried to take Bobby out of the discussion.”

Means also blasted White House health policy aide — and now Trump’s nominee to lead the Food and Drug Administration — Heidi Overton, alleging she facilitated Wiles' efforts and played a direct role undermining Kennedy on glyphosate and psychedelics.

Overton, Means said, “worked with the Department of Justice to construct a legal argument about why the Supreme Court could take the case and why they should be supporting liability protection for the pesticide makers, and she did not consult Bobby Kennedy on that.”

Means said Overton conflated psychedelic therapies being developed for potential FDA approval with “street drugs” and tried to “block” their advancement through the FDA “without understanding what they were.”

“It’s just a representation of the demonic nature of D.C.,” he said.

Means’ comments contradict Kennedy’s public praise for Overton. In response to a story about Overton’s clashes with the administration’s MAHA wing, Kennedy told The Atlantic that Overton brought "exceptional dedication, meticulous attention to detail, and strategic leadership to every policy she touches.”

Overton is still awaiting confirmation by the Senate to lead the FDA. The agency has vast powers to regulate food and drugs that Kennedy and his supporters want to put to use, over industry objections. Overton's chances are far better if Republicans vote during the coming lame-duck session before Democrats take control of the chamber in January.

A White House official granted anonymity to describe the internal decision-making on glyphosate refuted Means' allegation that Overton was involved in drafting the memo the Trump administration submitted to the Supreme Court in the case involving the weed killer. The official also told POLITICO that the Supreme Court had requested the solicitor general, the White House's top lawyer before the court, weigh in on the questions around federal preemption in the case. The official added that after the brief was written, certain policy staff were invited to review it and that Overton had suggested minor changes in "tone."

"She was not involved in drafting the brief," the official said. "This was something managed explicitly ... by the lawyers at the White House, together with the solicitor general."

Means frequently absolved Trump from his broader frustrations, saying the president was unaware of the ways in which his staff worked with industry. But ultimately that alliance cost Republicans their grip on power, Means said.

“Americans need to understand that if they are getting whipped up and excited about policy promises through our existing structure, they are being duped and gaslighted and lied to,” Means said. “We need to have systemic reform.”