Although Donald Trump campaigned on “Draining the Swamp,” many in Trump’s orbit appear to be moving into the high-dollar world of lobbying and influence-trading, potentially threatening Trump’s reform agenda.
Trump campaign chairs, former White House aides, cabinet officials, and even the daughter of the current White House chief of staff all now work for K Street firms that have been snatching up clients. Their new clients are looking for help in Washington and protection from some of the reform-minded promises made by Donald Trump on the campaign trail. The lobbying outreach is an early manifestation of what might be called the “new Resistance.”
Consider the case of Harvard University.
As a candidate, Trump announced that as president, he would sue, fine, and tax “excessively large university endowments.” A week later, he specified, “I mean, you look at Harvard, you look at the dollars that they have billions and billions and billions of dollars with all the tax advantages. And we’ll be going to take a very strong look at that.” At the time, Harvard—which has an endowment of $53 billion—was under fire for countenancing, even encouraging, pro-Hamas sentiment on campus.
University President Alan Garber told faculty colleagues that an endowment tax increase is the “threat that keeps me up at night.”
After Trump’s election, Garber met with Harvard’s faculty behind closed doors to consider how to meet the threat from a Trump administration. On January 2, Harvard hired Ballard Partners, a lobbying firm with deep ties to Donald Trump.
According to lobbying disclosures, Harvard hired Ballard Partners for “advocacy supporting education and educational research.” The firm’s founder, Brian Ballard, is a well-connected Trump ally. Ballard was the Florida finance chairman for Trump’s 2016 campaign and later served as vice chairman of his presidential inaugural committee. Ballard was later appointed to the presidential transition finance committee. His firm began operating in DC after Trump’s inauguration in 2017 and instantly became a major Beltway player.
U.S. AG Pam Bondi listens during a news conference. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Two Ballard employees from the first Trump administration are now key insiders in Trump’s second administration—Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Attorney General Pamela Bondi.
Harvard’s Trumpy lobbying play is hardly unique: Ballard Partners has signed at least forty new clients since Election Day with an average retainer of $100,000. All are looking for some kind of protection. Ballard represents Tik Tok, which faces the threat of forced divestment from Chinese-controlled ByteDance. Another Ballard client is the Democratic Republic of Congo, whose escalating conflict with a Rwandan-backed militia group has been called “Trump’s first big challenge in Africa.”
What is unique about Harvard’s contract is that they not only hired Ballard’s firm, they hired Brian Ballard himself as lead lobbyist, which suggests a premium expenditure.
This is a stark shift in Harvard’s lobbying strategy, as 2023 marked the Ivy League institution’s lowest spending on federal lobbying in nine years.
An endowment tax isn’t Harvard’s only worry in Trump’s second term. Trump’s pick to lead the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Jayanta “Jay” Bhattacharya, has suggested tying NIH grant funding to assessments of academic freedom in universities. Under rankings published by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), which rates intellectual diversity among campus faculty and students, Harvard could be in trouble: Of the 251 universities analyzed by FIRE, Harvard ranked dead last.
Harvard is not the only Ivy League institution seeking Trump World help in trying to navigate the new reality in Washington. Columbia University, another campus rocked by antisemitism scandals, has enlisted BGR Government Affairs, a lobbying firm co-founded by former Republican National Committee chairman Haley Barbour and managed by prominent Trump surrogate David Urban, to advocate on its behalf.
White House Chief of Staff Suzie Wiles meets with Former President Bill Clinton at the Trump Inauguration (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
The nation of Panama took notice when Trump made the case in his inaugural address that the US should re-take control of the Panama Canal. The canal, one of the costliest and largest American engineering feats of the twentieth century, was controlled by the US until President Jimmy Carter agreed to turn control over to Panama in 1979. Since then, Panama has gradually yielded control of the canal’s two entrances to the Chinese company CK Hutchison Holdings, while the US is being charged outsized sums for passage.
“China is operating the Panama Canal, and we didn’t give it to China. We gave it to Panama,” Trump said. “And we are taking it back.”
Trump says the same treaty that gave Panama the right to charge for access might also be used to revoke ownership and restore it to US control.
“If the principles, both moral and legal, of this magnanimous gesture of giving are not followed, then we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us, in full, quickly and without question,” Trump stated.
In his first overseas trip as the U.S.’s top ambassador, Secretary of State Marco Rubio stopped in Panama and reiterated the US stance to Panama’s President Jose Raul Mulino.
President Mulino disputes the American claim, but felt the need to bolster his case by entering a $2.5 million contract with the Trump-friendly BGR lobbying firm days before Trump took office.
Panama is one of a number of new clients to join BGR’s ranks in the last several months, all seeking remedy from the threats new Trump positions pose.
The nation of Somalia has also sought help from BGR, signing as a client in December 2024 for $50,000 per month. Somalia has received as much as $360 million a year in aid from the US, which was frozen for ninety days by a Trump administration executive order. Non-profit advocacy group Stand With Ukraine, fearing an end to American funding of Ukraine’s war with Russia, signed up in January.
BGR has a history of representing questionable clients. Quectel Wireless, a Chinese chip manufacturer, was added to the Department of Defense list of People’s Republic of China (PRC) Military Companies on January 7, 2025, which forbids them from doing business with the Pentagon. BGR has been lobbying for Quectel for the past year. Chemonics International, a massive recipient of US Agency for International Development contracts, also works with BGR though it may be largely disappointed with recent returns.
Ballard Partners and BGR are just two of a host of Trump-linked firms that have signed new clients hoping to influence the new administration. Filled with former White House aides, cabinet officials, or relatives of current staffers, these firms all tout the appearance of access to Trump himself and, as a result, present the appearance of obstacles to the reform so many Americans chose in November.
Others Include:
Courtesy of Donald Trump Jr. Checkmate chief Ches McDowell on far right
Checkmate Government Relations
North Carolina-based Checkmate is new to the scene. It started operations in December of 2023 and didn’t open a DC office until December of 2024. Led by Ches McDowell, the brother of newly elected Congressman Addison McDowell (R-NC), the firm touts friendships with Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, as well as Chris LaCivita Jr., Donald Trump’s campaign co-chair’s son.
Despite being new, Checkmate has managed to land The Council of the Federation — the collection of the thirteen provincial and territorial leaders in Canada, to an $85,000 per month contract. The Council is seeking to parry the Trump administration’s threat to impose 25 percent tariffs on all Canadian goods.
Miller Strategies
Jeff Miller, a former finance vice chair for Trump’s inauguration, had his lobbying firm, Miller Strategies, bring on James Tyler Grimm, a former chief counsel for the House Judiciary Committee member Rep. Jim Jordan.
Since the 2024 election, Miller Strategies has signed twenty-one new clients, including software giant Palantir, which appears poised to see growth through government contracts. Other new clients include Uber, eBay, OpenAI, Pfizer, Nuclear Energy Inc., and California Forever LP. The firm’s financial gains have been significant, raking in $4 million in the final quarter of 2024. That is an increase of 37 percent from the previous quarter.
Miller Strategies has a history of seeing its fortunes rise thanks to close connections: The firm’s revenue rose 40 percent while Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) was Speaker of the House in 2023, due to Miller’s close personal relationship with McCarthy.
Michael Best Strategies
Michael Best Strategies (MBS). Under the leadership of Trump’s former Chief of Staff, Reince Priebus, MBS has rapidly expanded its roster of influential figures and high-profile clients.
In early 2025, MBS brought on Chris LaCivita, a top Trump campaign strategist, alongside Alison Prange, who previously served as president and COO of the 2024 Republican National Convention host committee. Tory Sendek, a former special assistant to President Trump and longtime RNC staffer, also joined as director of federal government relations.
Reince Priebus in the oval office during President Trump’s first term. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Since then, MBS has signed many new clients across industries. United Airlines, which donated $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund in January 2025, retained MBS to push for favorable federal aviation regulations and tax policies. The airline will rely on Alexander Angelson, a former Trump White House assistant, to navigate the administration’s regulatory landscape. It hopes to persuade the Trump administration to reconsider a Biden administration move to force airlines to compensate customers whose flights are canceled.
Other clients include The Center for AI Safety Action Fund, Adobe,
ApSeed Early Childhood Education, Dynamic Medical Services, and BioWound Solutions.
Continental Strategy
Continental Strategy touts prominent connections to the Trump administration, such as Carlos Trujillo, a former Trump adviser, Chief of Staff to Marco Rubio, and former Deputy Political Director for Trump’s Campaign. Continental Strategies also employs Katie Wiles, the daughter of current White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles.
Those connections have led to a boom in new business, with fourteen new clients signed since the election, including Google Cloud, which faces a new antitrust probe in China, largely seen as a retaliatory move by the Chinese to Trump administration tariffs.
Continental’s other new clients include Geo Group, Prospera, eMerge Americas, and IEM International.
CGCN Group
Led by former White House aides Tim Pataki, Ja’Ron Smith, and Mike Catanzaro, the CGCN Group has also seen a significant uptick in business. Reported revenue for 2024 was $9.7 million, an increase of 28 percent from the previous year. Other clients include Chevron, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, and the Chey Institute for Advanced Studies.
Conclusion
While opportunities for corruption abound, the Trump Administration has so far exceeded expectations to “drain the swamp’ via the exploits of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) task force. For GAI, this is an ongoing investigation, and we will continue to monitor the swampy interests seeking to undermine the Trump Administration.
