Stephen Miller is moving quickly to set himself apart from the chief of staff he replaced.
Miller’s office has issued a memo – which opens with lavish praise for President Donald Trump – barring White House staff from meeting with lobbyists about policy on the building’s grounds without prior approval in a sharp break with ousted predecessor Susie Wiles, reported the New York Times.
“No President in history has fought more relentlessly, selflessly or courageously for the American People than President Trump,” it reads. “Following his example, White House staff are expected to dedicate their time unwaveringly to the working people of the nation.”
Under the new rules, staff must get approval from the White House Counsel’s Office before meeting registered lobbyists anywhere in the White House complex. Lobbyist inquiries are to be sent to the Office of Public Liaison, which the memo calls “the primary point of contact for engagement with external stakeholders.”
Pro-Trump podcaster Benny Johnson posted the memo Thursday and called it “a marked break” from Wiles’ leadership “and a signal that there is a massive crackdown coming.”
The directive comes a week after Calley Means, a prominent figure in the Make America Healthy Again movement, accused Wiles of steering administration health policy toward corporate donors with well-connected lobbyists. Means resigned from the Department of Health and Human Services last month.
Means singled out Ballard Partners, the lobbying firm where Wiles once worked, and Wiles’ daughter, Katie Wiles, a partner at the firm Continental Strategy.
“So if you’re a special interest and you want to get something done, the secret’s out,” Means said on The Joe Rogan Experience. “You pay Susie’s daughter, and it was openly discussed when they had a client.”
The White House has rejected the claims and says Katie Wiles did not discuss her business with her mother. Continental Strategy says she does not lobby the U.S. government for any clients. Ballard founder Brian Ballard said in a statement Sunday that his firm’s dealings with Wiles as chief of staff were “limited and have been the exception, not the rule.”
According to the Times, Ballard has helped clients who donated to Trump’s super PAC, the White House ballroom project and other Trump-favored projects get access to the president and his team. Some of those clients have benefited from administration policy changes.
The memo still leaves plenty of room for special interests. It applies only to the White House complex, so lobbyists could still meet staff at Mar-a-Lago and Trump’s golf clubs, and many corporate executives deal with Trump directly.
The White House and Wiles did not respond to the Times’ requests for comment.
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