# MAGA vs. MAHA In November 2026, days after Republicans lost both chambers of Congress, a former senior health adviser went public with a specific charge: that the White House chief of staff had blocked parts of the [[MAHA]] health agenda because the industries involved were paying for the midterms. The adviser was [[Calley Means]], who had resigned on October 22. The chief of staff was [[Susie Wiles]], who resigned under pressure the same week. The firm he named was [[Ballard Partners]], where Wiles once worked. Means made the charges on [[Joe Rogan]]'s podcast on November 6 and repeated them on CBS's *Face the Nation* on November 8. Wiles, [[Brian Ballard]] and the White House all say they are false. This page separates the two halves of the story. The conversations Means describes rest on his word. The money he points to is on the public record, and every figure checked here against [[Federal Election Commission]] and [[Lobbying Disclosure Act]] filings holds up. ## What Means alleges **Sugar.** Means says that when he pressed for action on sugar and on a federal definition of ultraprocessed food, Wiles refused and told him, "I need sugar money," meaning sugar-industry donations for the midterms. No one else has confirmed the remark. **Flavored vapes.** He says tobacco companies used Ballard Partners to reach the President, and that Wiles arranged meetings for Brian Ballard with [[Donald Trump]]. He points to the May 2026 decision to let fruit-flavored e-cigarettes onto the market. **Glyphosate.** He says Wiles and her deputies drove [[Executive Order 14387]], the February 2026 order that declared the weedkiller ingredient glyphosate critical to national defense, after its maker, [[Bayer]], paid Ballard. He says he was shown the order the day before it was signed and told it was not open to discussion. Means has said he does not think Trump fully knew what his advisers were doing. ## What the filings show | Money | Record | Amount | |---|---|---| | [[Florida Crystals]] to [[MAGA Inc]], 2025–26 cycle | FEC: January 15, 2025; February 27, 2025; July 23, 2026 | **$3,000,000** | | [[Reynolds American]] (through RAI Services Company) to MAGA Inc, 2025–26 cycle | FEC: February 5, 2025; June 30, 2025; December 29, 2025; **$5,000,000 on April 30, 2026** | **$8,000,000** | | Reynolds to other political committees, 2025–26 cycle | FEC: checks of $100,000 or more to fourteen committees, led by SLF PAC ($3.5M) and CLF ($1.4M) | **about $8,200,000** | | [[Altria]] (through Altria Client Services) to MAGA Inc | FEC: May 9, 2025 | **$1,000,000** | | Reynolds to Ballard Partners, lobbying fees | Seven quarterly reports, first quarter 2025 through third quarter 2026 | **$1,110,000** | | Bayer to Ballard Partners, lobbying fees | Eight quarterly reports, fourth quarter 2024 through third quarter 2026 | **$660,000** | Two details in the lobbying reports go beyond the totals. **The Reynolds account changed in the quarter of the vape decision.** In the first quarter of 2026, Ballard reported contacting only the House of Representatives for Reynolds, for a fee of $150,000. In the second quarter, the firm added the White House Office and the [[FDA]] as contacts, added a lobbyist named Rich Haselwood, and reported $190,000. The third-quarter fee was $210,000. **Brian Ballard is named personally on the Bayer account.** Every Bayer report since early 2025 lists him as a lobbyist and lists the White House Office as a contact. In the first three quarters of 2026 the White House Office is the only contact listed. The stated subject is "crop protection tools." ## Three sequences **Vapes.** On April 30, 2026, a Reynolds subsidiary gave $5,000,000 to MAGA Inc. On May 2, Trump had lunch at his golf club in Jupiter, Florida, with a Reynolds executive, two Altria executives, Ballard and Haselwood. The *New York Times* reported that Trump phoned FDA commissioner [[Marty Makary]] and then [[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]] during the meal to complain about vape regulation. Within about a week the FDA authorized its first fruit-flavored vapes and issued guidance opening a path for more. Makary resigned days later. **Glyphosate.** On February 17, 2026, Bayer proposed a $7.25 billion settlement of the cancer lawsuits over its Roundup weedkiller. On February 18, Trump signed Executive Order 14387. On June 25, the [[Supreme Court]] ruled 7–2 in *Monsanto Co. v. Durnell* that federal pesticide law blocks state lawsuits claiming Roundup's label should have carried a cancer warning. The administration had backed Bayer's position in that case. **Sugar.** The *Wall Street Journal* reported in late September that White House staff had stalled three of Kennedy's food initiatives, including the ultraprocessed-food definition, and that Means had accused officials at a July meeting of protecting special interests. Florida Crystals' third $1,000,000 gift to MAGA Inc is dated July 23. ## What the filings do not show - **They do not show a trade.** No document ties a donation or a lobbying fee to a decision. The sequences above are timing. - **They do not say who was lobbied.** "White House Office" on a lobbying report covers the President and his staff alike. The form does not name the person contacted. - **They do not corroborate the quote.** The "sugar money" remark is Means's account of a private conversation. ## The denials, read closely A spokesperson for Wiles called the accusations "outrageous, defamatory, and provably false." Wiles told CBS she had nothing to do with the tobacco lunch. Brian Ballard issued a statement on November 8. It says no one at the firm advocated to Wiles or to White House staff for fruit-flavored vapes, and no one lobbied Wiles or anyone in the West Wing about the glyphosate order. It says the firm's White House work on vapes was aimed at illegal imports from China. The statement is narrow, as [[Judd Legum]] of [[Popular Information]] was the first to point out. It covers Wiles and staff. It does not cover the President. Ballard confirmed the distinction the next day, saying the May lunch was with Trump, not with Wiles or White House staff. His own firm's reports are consistent with that reading: they list the White House Office as a contact for both Reynolds and Bayer. One further point from the Reynolds reports. The second-quarter 2026 filing, the one covering the lunch, describes the work only as advocating "a harm reduction approach to tobacco regulation" at the FDA. Enforcement against illicit nicotine products, the subject Ballard says his White House work was about, first appears in the third-quarter filing. Descriptions on these forms are brief and often formulaic, so this is an observation, not a contradiction. [[Continental Strategy]], the firm where Wiles's daughter works, called the claims baseless and said it never lobbied for Bayer, glyphosate or vapes. Federal lobbying records show no Continental filings for Bayer or Monsanto. ## Who else has spoken - **Marty Makary**, the former FDA commissioner, told CBS that tobacco companies used their connections to administration and health officials to press for fruit-flavored vape approvals. That supports Means on the pressure, not on who applied it. - **[[Todd Blanche]]**, the attorney general, called Means a disgruntled former official and said the Justice Department would not investigate claims made on a podcast. - **[[Robert Garcia]]**, the Democrat in line to chair the [[House Oversight Committee]], said he will look into the claims. - **James Blair**, a former deputy chief of staff named by Means, denied promoting flavored vapes and said he is reviewing legal options. - **Means** has demanded that Wiles, Ballard Partners and Continental Strategy preserve their records. ## Weighing the source Means is not a neutral witness. He co-founded a wellness company that benefits from the agenda he pushed in government, and he held a stake in it during his first months as an adviser. He left the administration frustrated and made his charges days after his party's midterm defeat. On May 4, 2026, two days after the tobacco lunch and three months after the glyphosate order, he was a guest on Ballard Partners' own podcast, a fact the firm has publicized. None of that changes the filings. It does mean the private conversations he describes should be treated as allegations until someone else confirms them. ## Why it matters Brian Ballard raises money for the President and sells access to his government. That arrangement is legal, and it is the business model behind the firm's record revenue: more than $88 million in 2025 and, by a CBS News count of the firm's filings, more than $98 million in the first nine months of 2026. What Means has added is a first-hand claim, from inside, about how the arrangement shaped specific decisions. The dispute also exposes a fault line the 2024 coalition papered over. MAHA voters were promised a fight with the food, chemical and tobacco industries. Those industries are major donors to the President's political operation. When the two commitments collided on sugar, vapes and glyphosate, the industries won each time. The House changes hands in January 2027. A committee with subpoena power can ask for what the public filings leave out: calendars, visitor logs, invoices and messages. ## Timeline - **February 17, 2026.** Bayer proposes a $7.25 billion Roundup settlement. - **February 18, 2026.** Trump signs Executive Order 14387 on glyphosate. - **April 30, 2026.** Reynolds subsidiary gives $5,000,000 to MAGA Inc. - **May 2, 2026.** Trump lunches with tobacco executives and Ballard in Jupiter, Florida. - **May 2026.** FDA clears fruit-flavored vapes. Makary resigns within days. - **June 25, 2026.** Supreme Court rules for Monsanto in the Roundup labeling case. - **July 2026.** White House meeting on the ultraprocessed-food definition. Florida Crystals gives $1,000,000 to MAGA Inc on July 23. - **October 22, 2026.** Means resigns. - **November 3, 2026.** Republicans lose the House and Senate in the [[2026 Midterm Elections]]. - **November 5–6, 2026.** Wiles resigns. Trump names [[Stephen Miller]] chief of staff. Means's Rogan interview is released. - **November 8, 2026.** Means appears on *Face the Nation*. Ballard issues his statement. ## See also - [[Calley Means]] · [[Susie Wiles]] · [[Brian Ballard]] · [[Ballard Partners]] · [[Continental Strategy]] - [[Reynolds American 8M to MAGA Inc]] · [[Florida Crystals 3M to MAGA Inc]] · [[MAGA Inc]] - [[Florida Crystals]] · [[Reynolds American]] · [[Altria]] · [[Bayer]] · [[Executive Order 14387]] - [[MAHA]] · [[Marty Makary]] · [[Juul]] · [[FDA]] - [[Lobbying Hub]] · [[Revolving Door]] · [[Trump Corruption News Log]] · [[Corruption Hub]]