The corporate lobbyist who will run the Trump White House
During the 2024 campaign, Trump condemned the power of lobbyists in Washington, DC, and pledged that, if he returned to the White House, they would have no influence. "Above all, you deserve leadership in Washington that does not answer to the lobbyists… or to the corrupt special interest but answers only to you, the hardworking citizens of America," Trump said during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on October 5, 2024.
During an interview with podcaster Theo Von on August 20, 2024, Trump stressed that the key to effective government is to "stop listening to lobbyists," describing himself as "not a big person for lobbyists." Trump bemoaned that the lobbyists were "winning" at the expense of the American public. When Von pressed Trump on how, exactly, he would limit lobbyists' influence, Trump suggested ending the revolving door between lobbying and the federal government. "[O]ne way you could stop it is to say if you're going to go into government, you can never be a lobbyist," Trump said.
Two days after he won the election, Trump announced his first selection for his White House staff. He picked corporate lobbyist Susie Wiles to be White House Chief of Staff.
In 2011, Wiles joined the Ballard Partners, a Florida lobbying firm founded by Republican operative Brian Ballard. In 2015, according to a report in the New York Times, Trump asked Ballard who could help him win the state. Ballard recommended Wiles. After Trump won the 2016 election, Wiles decided to help Ballard "set up a Washington office rather than join the new administration." Prior to Trump winning the White House, Ballard Partners had no federal clients.
It was a lucrative decision, with Ballard Partners raking in $70 million in lobbying fees during the first Trump presidency. Wiles personally represented numerous corporate clients for millions in fees, including Swisher Sweets, a tobacco company that markets candy-flavored cigars, Republic Services, a waste management company seeking to avoid a federal requirement to remove radioactive material from a dump in the St. Louis suburbs, and the Consumer Energy Alliance, a front group for the fossil fuel industry.
Most controversially, Wiles registered as "a lobbyist for Globovisión, a Venezuelan TV network owned by Raúl Gorrín." Globovisión paid Ballard Partners "$800,000 for a year of work." The contract was purportedly to provide advice on “general government policies and regulations." But it soon became clear that the contract was part of Gorrin's "quiet charm offensive for Nicolás Maduro’s government that sought closer ties with Trump." Days after Ballard Partners dropped Globovisión as a client, Gorrin was charged "for his role in a billion-dollar currency exchange and money laundering scheme." In 2019, Wiles also registered as a foreign agent for a Nigerian political party.
Even after Wiles was tapped to lead Trump's 2024 campaign, she continued working as a federal lobbyist, this time as the co-chair of the lobbying firm Mercury Public Affairs. Wiles reportedly maintained that position until she was named Trump's new Chief of Staff. The Trump campaign claimed she stopped doing work for Mercury Public Affairs beginning in November 2022, but that is contradicted by federal lobbying disclosures. Wiles was listed as Mercury's sole lobbyist for Swisher Sweets' parent company, collecting $30,000 in fees in the first quarter of 2024.
With Wiles in the White House, corporations rush to hire Ballard
Will Wiles' position as Chief of Staff give the lobbying clients of Ballard Partners a powerful channel to influence federal policy? Federal lobbying disclosures tell the story. Since Wiles' was named as Trump's top White House aide, corporations have rushed to sign up Ballard Partners to represent them.
In the 66 days since Wiles' role was announced, Ballard Partners has signed 28 new federal clients. The amount these new clients are paying has not yet been disclosed.
Among the new clients for Ballard Partners is the crypto company Ripple Labs. The company signed with Ballard Partners on November 13, 2024 and is seeking to influence "regulation of digital assets, cryptocurrencies and blockchain and related legislation." Last Tuesday, Brad Garlinghouse, Ripple's CEO, and Stuart Alderoty, Ripple's Chief Legal Officer, had dinner at Mar-a-Lago with Trump.
The Toy Association, the lobbying group for the toy industry, hired Ballard Partners on December 1 to provide it with "guidance and advocacy related to tariffs." Other new clients include The Invictus Collective, "the investment advisor for ultra-high-net-worth families," and Chevron.
Ballard lobbyist nominated to be Attorney General
Pam Bondi, Trump's nominee for Attorney General, has worked as a lobbyist for Ballard Partners since 2019. During her tenure, Bondi has represented many clients whom she would be responsible for scrutinizing as the leader of the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Bondi was hired by Uber in 2020. While Bondi was representing Uber, the company allegedly violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by denying rides to blind customers accompanied by guide dogs. According to a July 2024 report by NBC Bay Area, the DOJ is actively investigating these violations. Bondi would now be in a position to decide whether charges should be filed against Uber or her other former corporate clients. Bondi also represented General Motors, which paid a $500,000 criminal fine in November 2024 for submitting a false report regarding its self-driving cars. The fine was paid as part of a deferred prosecution agreement with the DOJ.
Geo Group, a private prison company, hired Bondi in 2019 to lobby the first Trump administration, “promoting the use of public-private partnerships in correctional services.” As Attorney General, Bondi could play a key role in Trump's promised mass deportation campaign, an effort that could mean hundreds of millions in annual revenue to Geo Group. Amazon also employed Bondi as a lobbyist. The massive online retailer and tech company has attracted interest from the DOJ's antitrust division and, in July 2023, paid a $25 million civil penalty to resolve charges by the DOJ that its Alexa service violated child privacy laws.
As Attorney General of Florida, a position Bondi held before joining Ballard Partners, Bondi developed a reputation for her "business-friendly" attitude. Bondi, for example, decided to drop a case involving the underpayment of state taxes by the travel site Travelocity. Contemporaneously, a lobbying firm representing Travelocity "helped cover the bill to charter a plane to fly… Bondi and other attorneys general to Mackinac Island in Michigan for a meeting of the Republican Attorneys General Association."
Notably, Eric Holder, who served as Attorney General during the Obama administration, also worked as a federal lobbyist before taking office.
Trump protects the revolving door
Trump suggested to Von that he supported permanently banning federal employees from lobbying. When he first entered the White House in 2016 on a pledge to "drain the swamp," Trump signed an executive order that barred all political appointees from lobbying their former agency for five years and not lobby on behalf of a foreign government at any time. Trump described the executive order as something "I've been talking about a lot on the campaign trail, and we are now putting it into effect."
But, on his last day in office, Trump revoked the ban. Neither Trump nor the White House offered "any justification for the reversal."
Similarly, in the waning days of his presidency, former President Clinton revoked a five-year lobbying ban that he signed on his first day in office in 1993. There is a one-year lobbying ban that is codified in federal law.
Good reporting and well balanced versus two siding it. I expect the level of corporate influence will be “at heights never seen before” to paraphrase the great orator.
We have the best government money can buy.