Stephen Miller Orders White House Staff to Get a Lawyer’s OK Before Meeting Lobbyists
White House staff must now get a lawyer’s approval before meeting with registered lobbyists, under a new memo from the office of Chief of Staff Stephen Miller.
The rule requires prior approval from the Office of White House Counsel for meetings on the White House complex with registered lobbyists about government policy, Politico reported, after first obtaining the memo.
The memo leaves the Office of Public Liaison as the main point of contact for outside groups.
It opens with a statement of purpose: “No President in history has fought more relentlessly, selflessly or courageously for the American People than President Trump. Following his example, White House staff are expected to dedicate their time unwaveringly to the working people of the nation.”
White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers told Politico, “President Trump’s loyalty is to the American people, not lobbyists. His team is dedicated to advancing the President’s agenda, not the agenda of D.C. lobbyists.”
Miller took over as chief of staff on Nov. 9, replacing Susie Wiles after Republicans lost both chambers of Congress in the midterms.
A Break From Wiles
The memo follows accusations last week from Calley Means, a former senior adviser to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., that the White House catered to lobbyists whose clients raised big money for the president’s political groups, The New York Times reported.
Means, a leading voice in the Make America Healthy Again movement, blamed Wiles. He singled out Ballard Partners, the lobbying firm where she once worked, and her daughter, Katie Wiles, a partner at the firm Continental Strategy.
A Wiles spokesperson called the accusations “outrageous, defamatory, and probably false,” and Ballard Partners founder Brian Ballard called his firm’s dealings with Wiles “limited,” Politico reported.
Lobbyists who know Miller said the rule will not surprise anyone on K Street, where he has few friends.
“He doesn’t operate based on relationships. He operates based on policy outcomes that will advance the president’s agenda,” said Hunter Morgen, a Ballard Partners lobbyist who worked with Miller in the first Trump White House, Politico said.
Another lobbyist was blunter: “He’s impossible to lobby, no one can do it, not even the people that you would think are closest.”
Some lobbyists said they will now work through the Domestic Policy Council and the National Economic Council instead, or try for a direct line to the president.
The White House did not respond to questions Thursday night about what prompted the memo, which a pro-Trump podcaster also posted on social media, according to the Times.
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