Stephen Miller, the new White House chief of staff, has instituted sweeping ethics rules that restrict lobbyist interactions with staff on the White House complex.
Miller Imposes Strict Lobbyist Rules
A White House spokesman told The Epoch Times that a November 12 memorandum from the Chief of Staff’s Office required all staff to obtain prior approval from the Office of White House Counsel before meeting with registered lobbyists on the complex.
The memo stipulated that the Office of Public Liaison would handle any questions about the policy, which applies only to on‑site meetings and does not extend to staff encounters with lobbyists outside the White House grounds.
“This is a much stricter process than before,” an unnamed White House official explained in an email cited by The Epoch Times.
Former adviser Calley Means and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. accused former chief of staff Susie Wiles of blocking the Make America Healthy Again agenda to protect corporate interests, including alleged backing from the sugar industry.
Trump’s decision to replace Wiles with Miller sparked outrage among Democrats and Republican‑in‑name‑only lawmakers, who warned that Miller’s hard‑line approach would undermine bipartisan norms.
Rep. Robert Garcia (D‑Calif.), the House Oversight Committee’s ranking Democrat, announced he would investigate Wiles, asserting that Democratic corruption rivals Republican wrongdoing.
White House lawyer Will Scharf responded in a letter to Garcia, stating that congressional oversight must demonstrate a legitimate legislative purpose and that the administration is monitoring “abusive and capricious threats” from legislators seeking to intimidate the government.
While both parties have been accused of compromising reform to appease corporate partners, critics argue that portraying the issue as uniquely Democratic is misguided.
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