Susie Wiles quit as Donald Trump's chief of staff last week with Republicans reeling from a midterm wipeout that handed Democrats the House and the Senate.
asserted
that → quit → House
Wiles, 69, was the president's gatekeeper, deciding who saw him and what landed on the Resolute Desk.
Republicans and MAGA influencers turned on her after the defeat, with some demanding that she take the fall.
asserted
she → decide → fall
But a former top aide to Robert F Kennedy Jr went further, accusing her of putting the donors bankrolling the midterm campaign ahead of voters.
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aide → go → voters
Calley Means claimed during a bombshell interview with Joe Rogan that Wiles blocked a federal review into children's sugar consumption, telling him: 'I need the sugar industry money.
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I → claim → money
I need the money for the midterms.
asserted
I → need → midterms
Wiles denied his claims, with a spokesperson calling them 'outrageous, defamatory, and provably false.'
uncertain
spokesperson → deny → them
Representative Robert Garcia, the California Democrat set to chair the House Oversight Committee, still says he will look into Means' claims.
uncertain
he → set → claims
Attorney General Todd Blanche has said the Justice Department will not investigate.
asserted
Department → say → ?
The dispute has put a spotlight on the money that swirls around Trump's Washington, where companies pay lobbyists millions to press their case with the government.
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companies → put → government
Wiles' younger daughter Caroline, 40, married Bret Worley, 30, at Trump's Virginia winery in June
Former White House chief of state Susie Wiles and her younger daughter Caroline
Wiles herself spent nearly a decade as a managing partner at Ballard Partners before leaving in 2019.
asserted
Wiles → marry → 2019
The firm's federal lobbying income soared from less than $20 million in 2024 to more than $88 million last year.
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income → soar → million
It has topped $98 million in nine months this year, Senate records show.
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records → top → months
Brian Ballard, the firm's founder and a top Trump fundraiser, said on Sunday that its interactions with Wiles as chief of staff 'have been limited and have been the exception, not the rule.'
Her two daughters work in the same world, though a White House official insisted last month that Wiles 'does not discuss work matters with her daughters.'
Wiles's elder daughter Katie is a partner at Continental Strategy, a lobbying firm paid $35,000 a month by Republika Srpska, a pro-Russian region of Bosnia.
Katie faced questions last month when a photo emerged of her holding a rifle beside the region's interior minister, who has been honored by Vladimir Putin.
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who → say → Putin
Her firm said she has never spoken to US officials about the region.
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she → say → region
Wiles's younger daughter Caroline, 40, married into a very different industry.
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daughter → marry → industry
Her husband Bret Worley, 30, whom she wed at Trump's Virginia winery in June, runs a hemp company.
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she → we → company
His firm, MC Nutraceuticals, sells hemp-derived forms of THC, the compound in marijuana that gets users high, to brands that put them in gummies, vapes and drinks.
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that → sell → gummies
A loophole has let companies like his sell THC products in gas stations and smoke shops across America.
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companies → let → America
Congress voted last November to close it with a ban the industry warned would put it out of business.
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industry → vote → business
Trump demanded in April that Congress rewrite the ban.
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Congress → demand → ban
'We must get this done RIGHT and FAST,' he wrote on Truth Social.
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he → get → Social
The Daily Mail can now reveal that a week later, hemp industry money found its way to a mystery company run by Caroline.
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money → reveal → Caroline
The political fund of Hemp Industry & Farmers of America (HIFA), a trade group fighting the ban, paid $15,000 to Retriever Consulting, which lists Caroline as its manager.
asserted
which → fight → manager
Retriever was set up by her now father-in-law, Jeff Worley.
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Retriever → set → father
His son Bret, whom Caroline married weeks after the payment, had sat on the trade group's board.
asserted
Caroline → marry → board
The ban was eventually kicked down the road, pushing it back to the upcoming end of year funding bill, which must be passed by December 11.
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which → kick → December
The White House previously denied Wiles lobbied for it to be delayed.
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it → deny → ?
Trump and Wiles during a lunch at the White House in March
Jeff Worley and Caroline Wiles celebrating their engagement in the Lombardy Alps
A spokeswoman for Caroline said the company was 'no longer in use and in the process of termination' and that she 'has not lobbied for HIFA or any specific company.
asserted
she → celebrate → HIFA
Caroline is vice president of federal affairs at Rubin, Turnbull & Associates, a Florida lobbying firm whose federal lobbying income jumped from less than $200,000 in 2024 to more than $7 million in 2025, her mother's first year in the West Wing.
asserted
income → jump → Wing
Its income topped $8 million in nine months this year, Senate records show.
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records → top → months
Caroline is not registered as a federal lobbyist.
asserted
Caroline → register → lobbyist
The HIFA payment to Caroline's company is now raising ethics questions, and could be used as ammunition for Democrats as they take back subpoena power in the next Congress.
uncertain
they → raise → Congress
'Fifteen thousand doesn't seem to be a huge amount of money, but you have got to do something for it,' Richard Painter, George W Bush's chief White House ethics lawyer, told the Daily Mail.
asserted
Painter → seem → Mail
'I think one of the questions that would come up is what services did the daughter perform for the contract?' Painter said.
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Painter → think → contract
'I would have to do quite a bit of work to get $15,000.'
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I → have → 15,000
Painter said the timing 'will certainly draw questions from Congress' and that records of the deal 'could be subpoenaed by the House come January,' when Democrats take over the chamber they won last week.
uncertain
they → say → chamber
'These Trump-related lobbying firms have got very, very wealthy on the Trump administration,' said Craig Holman, a lobbying expert at the watchdog group Public Citizen.
asserted
Holman → relate → group
'This is a clear line of direct influence peddling,' he told the Daily Mail.
asserted
he → tell → Mail
'Unfortunately it's not illegal but it does mark everything about the Trump administration.
asserted
it → mark → administration
'If we got rid of someone like Susie Wiles out of the administration, someone like Caroline Wiles would not have that type of influence,' Holman said ahead of Wiles's resignation.
asserted
Holman → rid → resignation
…and 1 more, not listed.
The Aporia
