{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://auchincloss.house.gov/media/press-releases/auchincloss-and-schiff-probe-top-rfk-jr-advisor-calley-means", "Auchincloss and Schiff Probe Top RFK Jr. Advisor Calley Means", "2025-10-31", "2025", "2025-10", "Democrat", "House", "MA", "Jake Auchincloss", "A000148", "auchincloss.house.gov", "auchincloss", "https://auchincloss.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "Washington, D.C. \u2014 Today, Congressman Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) and Senator Adam Schiff (D-CA) sent a letter to White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., demanding answers about potential conflicts of interest regarding former special government employee (SGE) Calley Means. Means served as a White House Advisor to the HHS Secretary and publicly touted his role as a leading policymaker behind the Trump administration\u2019s \u201cMake America Healthy Again\u201d (MAHA) initiative, while continuing to hold financial interests in his company, True Medicine Inc. (TrueMed).\n\nMeans and TrueMed appear to have profited considerably from MAHA policies. The Make America Healthy Again report encourages the expansion of tax-advantaged health savings accounts and flexible savings accounts to purchase alternative health and wellness products. This includes the products TrueMed markets, such as a $9,000 sauna and an \u201cAlpha JX2 Bidet\u201d claimed to aid autoimmune, digestive, and joint health.\n\nMeans and TrueMed have yet to respond to a previous letter sent by Representative Auchincloss seeking clarity on the steps he took to avoid conflicts of interest as an SGE. Secretary Kennedy also refused to offer any assurances or clarifications when asked about Means\u2019s role in his testimony before Congress on June 24, 2025. Similar requests from Senator Schiff to this administration regarding SGE compliance with federal ethics laws have also gone unanswered.\n\n\u201cThe lack of communication from the administration is of great concern and we now write with bicameral interest in assuring the American people that their policymakers took the necessary steps to avoid conflicts of interest. Although recent reports indicate that Mr. Means has departed from his role in the administration, taxpayers and families deserve assurance that Mr. Means\u2019s prior involvement in policy had been in the interests of science and public health, not in interest of his business and personal financial gain,\u201d the lawmakers wrote in their letter to White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. \u201cGiven the pattern of self-dealing and conflicts of interest throughout this administration, the public deserve to know whether Mr. Means and his business, TrueMed, operated ethically. It is therefore incumbent upon the Secretary and the White House, as Mr. Means\u2019s former supervisors, to clarify his role and verify compliance with federal conflicts of interest, ethics, and reporting requirements.\u201d\n\n\u201cMr. Means is one example of a [special government employee] SGE who has served in an unprecedented expansive capacity in both influence and duration,\u201d the lawmakers continued. \u201cMr. Means was appointed on March 18, 2025, which would mean his statutory 130-day period as an SGE should have ended around July 25, 2025. On October 30, 2025, Mr. Means shared that he left the administration about a month ago and took time off earlier in the year in order to meet the statutory limit. Without verification of these claims, it still raises concern that Mr. Means\u2019s original appointment may not have been \"based on a good faith\" estimate as is required under long-standing executive branch precedent.\u201d\n\nThe lawmakers asked several questions seeking clarification regarding Mr. Means\u2019s role in the Trump administration, including:\n\nTo what extent was Mr. Means involved \u2013 directly or indirectly \u2013 in the drafting, revising, reviewing, or provision of feedback regarding the Make America Healthy Again report?\n\nTo what extent was Mr. Means involved \u2013 directly or indirectly \u2013 in the drafting, revising, reviewing, or provision of feedback regarding the Make Our Children Healthy Again strategy?\n\nDid Mr. Means, in any conversation about the strategy, ever formally or informally reference the parallel interests of his company, TrueMed, or how the company and its peer companies might benefit from these policies?\n\nGiven MAHA\u2019s focus on \u201cradical transparency,\u201d will you make Mr. Means\u2019s financial disclosure forms publicly available, in line with legal requirements for other senior HHS officials?\n\nWill you commit to upholding the same ethical standard for anyone in the White House or HHS who advises on health policy, regardless of their status as an SGE?", 1, "2026-04-04T05:28:40Z", "2026-04-04T05:30:10Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://auchincloss.house.gov/media/press-releases/auchincloss-and-schiff-probe-top-rfk-jr-advisor-calley-means"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4767288230359554, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}