Republican infighting grew on Saturday after Ron Johnson said corruption existed within the Trump administration. These claims followed allegations by Calley Means that top aides prioritised corporate donors over health reforms. Means said, "everyone in DC convinces themselves that money is more important than voters," as the party faces losses.
Former health official's allegations of corporate influence over Trump administration policy spark war of words
A top Republican senator has lashed out at "corruption" within Donald Trump's administration as recriminations mount within the president's party following this week's electoral wipeout.
Ron Johnson said on Saturday that bombshell allegations by a former health department official showed corruption was "bipartisan" and present in "all branches of government," including "I'm sad to say, within the Trump administration".
The Wisconsin senator's remarks follow allegations by Calley Means, a former health department adviser, that top White House aides, including former chief of staff Susie Wiles and former deputy chief of staff James Blair, had prioritised the interests of corporate donors and obstructed healthcare reforms. Wiles and Blair deny the allegations.
"There is a very concentrated group of people in the Trump administration that are antagonistic to what people voted for and are . . . doing things for other reasons," Means, who resigned last month, told The Joe Rogan Experience podcast.
Means said Wiles and aides prioritised donations over healthy policies, blocking measures to reduce sugar in food and demanding approval for flavoured e-cigarettes against the advice of health professionals.
"It's a little bit of a game where everyone in DC convinces themselves that money is more important than voters," he said. "That's the Susie Wiles premise . . . we can't do this, I need sugar money -- direct quote -- I need the money from the sugar people to win the midterms."
The allegations -- made shortly before Trump replaced Wiles as chief of staff with Stephen Miller on Friday -- come as the Republican Party descends into infighting after a sweeping defeat to Democrats in Tuesday's midterm elections. Vice-president JD Vance this week blamed the loss on Trump's war with Iran.
The president on Friday said the main culprit for the loss was the sclerotic Republican-controlled Senate, which he said was "killing our country" because "nothing is getting through".
But the fallout over Means's allegations of corporate influence within the White House, which he said undermined Health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jnr's Make America Healthy Again movement, has elevated the party's war of words to a new level.
"Calley Means' accusations are outrageous, defamatory, and provably false. Susie has dedicated her career to fighting for President Trump and the American people, and will not allow these lies to go unanswered," said a spokesperson for Wiles.
"She has consulted with her lawyer about the appropriate next steps."
A White House official said Wiles "had been an essential leader in Making America Healthy Again".
Blair said on Saturday that the allegations were "not true" and that he was considering suing Means. "Calley, your poor me act is tiring and embarrassing for a grown man who launched a smear campaign," he wrote on X.
White House spokesperson Allison Schuster said that the MAHA coalition had "found a champion in President Trump, who has made incredible strides to Make America Healthy Again".
"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."
Johnson told Fox: "As long as you have government you're going to have the corruption that Calley Means lays out in gory detail within government, I'm sad to say within the Trump administration. OK. This is how government operates on a bipartisan basis."
"Our supporters were expecting us to drain the swamp, but it seems like the swamp won," said Johnson, who has called for a Republican Senate leadership vote, scheduled for next week, to be delayed while the party carries out a postmortem on the midterms defeat.
He added that Means's allegations were just the "tip of the iceberg". "This is happening throughout government -- agency after agency captured by the very entities, the big corporations, that are regulated by government. They capture these agencies and corrupt it."
Means on Saturday doubled down on his remarks, writing on X that "everything I said is substantiated by other senior officials" and calling on Wiles and Blair "to stop harassing me with texts and calls".
"I believe we are in an existential moment for the country, and Americans were owed an honest accounting of the past two years so we identify the problems we need to move on from," he said.