Kathrine Frich
He said aides treated President Donald Trump horribly.
Walking away from a high-level job usually brings a moment of quiet reflection.
In political circles, though, stepping down often means the filter comes right off.
One departing insider just pulled back the curtain on Washington, and his description of life at the top is far from flattering.
Treated like a child
Calley Means, who recently quit his roles as a White House adviser and top aide to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is speaking out about what happens behind closed doors.
According to the Huffpost it was during a Sunday appearance on the CBS program “Face the Nation,” Means told host Margaret Brennan that staffers handle the 80-year-old president like a toddler instead of a world leader.
“I think he had severe poor advice from people, I think, who treated him like a baby in many respects,” Means told CBS.
When a surprised Brennan asked him to confirm if aides really acted that way, the former Make America Healthy Again adviser did not hold back.
“Of course!” Means replied on the broadcast. “They would block access to, and information to him all the time.”
Finger pointing at the top
Sunday was not the first time Means leveled those charges since leaving his job just over two weeks ago. On Friday, he sat down for Joe Rogan’s podcast and claimed aides treated President Donald Trump “horribly” while steering policy choices behind his back.
During that podcast episode, Means aimed his sharpest criticism at then-White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, accusing her and other top officials of corruption.
He told Rogan that Wiles acted as the “most powerful” chief of staff in American history by keeping a “stranglehold” on policy, just hours before Trump announced Stephen Miller would replace her.
The golf club lunch
On CBS, the conversation turned to a report from The New York Times about a meeting earlier this year at Trump’s golf club in Jupiter, Florida.
According to the Times, tobacco lobbyists had lunch with the president after the industry, which also helped fund his White House ballroom, gave $5 million to a pro-Trump political action committee.
During the meal, the lobbyists reportedly “expressed dissatisfaction” with Food and Drug Administration rules. Sources told The New York Times that Trump tried to phone then-FDA chief Dr. Marty Makary from the table, missed him, and instead called Kennedy and Medicare and Medicaid head Mehmet Oz to complain about e-cigarette rules.
Days later, the agency cleared the way for flavored e-cigarettes, and Makary soon stepped down over the dispute, the Times reported.
Looking back, Means told CBS he “wouldn’t be surprised” if aides held “very short conversations” with the busy president on topics like vaping just to push their own goals.
“And they used that,” Means told Brennan. “It was all like, ‘The president wants this.'”
