Registered Corporate Lobbyist and Foreign Agent Jason Miller Must Not Be Appointed to Top WH Comms Job
Documents show Miller receiving $150,000/month from foreign government to influence U.S. policy and thousands more to lobby White House for corporate clients
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A reported plan for President Trump to appoint Jason Miller to a top communications job in the Trump White House would create an unprecedented conflict of interest since records show Miller is also earning millions of dollars lobbying the Trump White House on behalf of a foreign government, two foreign-owned corporations, and two companies with hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. military contracts. The reported plan would bring Miller into a White House job by designating him a “Special Government Employee,” a status that could enable him to keep his lobbying contracts.
In a statement, Public Citizen democracy advocate Jon Golinger said: “Taking a lobbyist who’s on the payroll of a foreign government and companies with huge government contracts and putting him inside the White House will create a three-headed beast of divided loyalties. What inside information will this person suddenly have access to and will he withhold it from his paying clients? Congress must block this plan to install a corporate lobbyist and foreign agent inside the White House.”
Federal lobbying filings for Miller’s company SHW Partners show that, starting in July 2025, his firm has reported being paid $261,665 to lobby the Trump White House, the Department of Defense, and other federal agencies on behalf of four corporate clients:
- Mesabi Metallics Company – a mining company lobbying filings show is 100% owned by a foreign entity based in India.
- OKBL USA Holdings Inc. – a cryptocurrency company lobbying filings show is 100% owned by a foreign entity based in the Seychelles.
- Divergent Technologies – a metal manufacturing company that last year received Defense Department contracts worth $3.5 million.
- Scale AI – a Meta-backed AI company that this spring announced it had received a “five-fold ceiling increase” in its Defense Department contracts from $100 million to $500 million.
Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA) filings for Miller and his firm SHW Partners show Miller signed a $150,000/month contract in April with the government of India to influence “the U.S. Government, the U.S. Congress, state governments, academic institutions, think tanks, and any other relevant stakeholders as required.” The contract continues Miller’s representation of India, which began in April 2025. At the end of the two-year term of his representation of India SHW stands to earn $3.6 million in fees.
A Public Citizen analysis found that, since Miller first registered as a foreign agent in April 2025, he has reported over 100 contacts with Trump Administration officials, Congress, and media figures to influence U.S. policy on behalf of India. This included dozens of phone calls with senior White House officials and Cabinet Secretaries and private dinners with White House Deputy Chief of Staff James Blair and then DHS Chief Advisor Corey Lewandowski, among others. Miller also disclosed using his social media accounts to distribute information on behalf of the Indian government.
A federal law prohibits public officials from acting as agents of foreign entities that require them to register as foreign agents. Violation of the law is punishable by a fine, imprisonment for up to two years, or both. An exception to the law allows an individual hired as a Special Government Employee only if the head of the agency employing the individual “certifies that such employment is required in the national interest.”
“Putting a corporate lobbyist and foreign agent in a top White House job would harm the national interest, not serve it,” said Golinger. “We urge Congress to tell the White House to abandon this ill-advised idea.”