Bayer's Web of Influence
And the blind spot of the Kennedy/Trump alliance
For those new to this, Bayer is a German-based agrochemical company. They acquired Monsanto, the maker of genetically engineered seeds and synthetic pesticides (like glyphosate) in 2018.
The Wall Street Journal recognized it as one of the worst corporate acquisitions in modern history. It was a $66B cash transaction, financed by debt. It didn’t go to a shareholder vote, and the due diligence proved a failure.
Two months after the purchase, a San Francisco jury awarded $250 million to a plaintiff blaming glyphosate, the key ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup weed-killer, for his non-Hodgkins’ lymphoma. Since then, tens of thousands of similar lawsuits have been filed.
Bayer has paid out $11 billion to settle 100,000 Roundup lawsuits, with more pending.
I covered Monsanto’s capture of regulatory agencies in my first book, The Unhealthy Truth, How Our Food Is Making Us Sick and What We Can Do About It, bravely published by Random House in 2009. We were extraordinarily early to calling this out. I used that book as the basis for my first TEDx talk which has been viewed 1.5 million times and been used to influence food and agricultural policy around the world.
And I’ve closely followed the impact of Bayer’s acquisition of Monsanto since 2018 which is why I could not support the Kennedy/Trump alliance.
Below are the details of how Bayer has not only captured the regulators, but also captured the administration.
In light of the recent executive order which grants partial immunity to glyphosate, it is critically important to understand just how deeply embedded this German agrochemical company is inside of the American government.
This did not happen overnight, and Bayer (Monsanto) have been building this internal infrastructure inside of our government for over 20 years. The revolving door is a topic I covered in The Unhealthy Truth, and it’s existed throughout both Republican and Democratic administrations.
And it puts our national security at risk.
Bayer’s Connections Inside the Trump Administration
A review of Washington access found 19 key administration officials with ties to Bayer’s lobbying or legal network, and at least 45 people registered to lobby for Bayer under the Lobbying Disclosure Act across 13 outside lobby firms — seven of which are now among the highest-paid firms in D.C. More than 30 senior officials at Bayer’s lobby firms have direct ties to Trump, having worked in one or both of his administrations or political campaigns. University of Illinois
The Inner Circle — The Florida Lobbyist Network
The most potent Bayer connections involve a group of Florida lobbyists who now hold power in Trump’s Washington: Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and Brian Ballard, who employed both Bondi and Wiles as lobbyists for years before they joined the Trump administration. University of Illinois
Brian Ballard / Ballard Partners (Lobbying Firm)
Ballard raised more than $50 million for Trump’s 2024 campaign and served on the 2024 inaugural and transition finance committees. He is widely seen as one of the most influential people in D.C. who does not hold an official government title. Ballard Partners became the highest-earning lobbying firm in D.C. in 2025, setting a record for the most lucrative year for any lobbying firm in U.S. history. House of Commons Library The firm registered to lobby for Bayer in December 2024.
Susie Wiles — White House Chief of Staff
Wiles worked for Ballard Partners as a lobbyist and then partner for a decade until 2022, while simultaneously serving as a senior advisor to Trump’s presidential campaigns from 2016 to 2022. University of Illinois She is now arguably the most powerful person in the White House besides Trump himself.
Pam Bondi — U.S. Attorney General
As Attorney General, Bondi leads the Justice Department and wields broad power over federal legal strategy and government positions in court. Like Wiles, Bondi moved back and forth between her lobbyist job at Ballard Partners and roles supporting Trump — joining Ballard in January 2019, assisting Trump’s first impeachment legal defense, then rejoining Ballard from 2020 to 2025 before becoming AG. University of Illinois This is directly relevant: in December 2025, DOJ lawyers filed a Supreme Court brief siding with Bayer’s arguments on “pesticide preemption,” which would make it harder for individuals to sue pesticide makers over cancer claims. Atlantic Council
Daniel McFaul — Ballard Partners
McFaul served on Trump’s 2016-2017 presidential transition team and is registered to lobby for both Bayer and the American Chemistry Council. Together with Ballard, the two organizations have paid Ballard Partners a combined half million dollars since Trump was elected the second time. World Hunger News
Hunter Morgen — Ballard Partners
Morgen served more than three years in senior positions during the first Trump administration as special assistant to the president and senior advisor for policy and strategy in the White House, working on trade and immigration with Peter Navarro and Stephen Miller. He was also a donor invited to an October 2025 gala for Trump’s new $250 million club. World Hunger News
EPA — Captured Regulatory Agency
David Fotouhi — EPA Deputy Administrator
Fotouhi has moved between senior roles at EPA and the law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, which represented Monsanto (now Bayer) in litigation involving highly toxic PCBs. Fotouhi practiced at Gibson Dunn from 2011 to 2017, joined the first Trump EPA from 2017 to 2021 as deputy and acting general counsel, returned to Gibson Dunn as a partner from 2021 to 2025, and then rejoined EPA. House of Commons Library
Troy Lyons — Holland & Hart (Registered Bayer Lobbyist)
Lyons is a registered lobbyist for Bayer and senior director of federal affairs at Holland & Hart. He served as associate administrator for the EPA Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Relations from 2017 to 2019 and as EPA senior advisor to the administrator for external affairs in 2019, serving under both EPA Administrators Wheeler and Scott Pruitt. He was EPA’s chief liaison to Congress and the White House during Trump’s first term. University of Illinois
Andrew Wheeler — Holland & Hart Partner
Holland & Hart, a lobby firm Bayer retained in April 2025, employs former EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler, who held the top job at EPA during Trump’s first term. Wheeler is a partner at the firm and head of federal affairs. House of Commons Library
Kyle Kunkler — EPA Deputy Assistant Administrator for Pesticides
Kunkler is a former pesticide industry lobbyist who was director of government affairs for the American Soybean Association from 2020 to 2025, focused on biotech and pesticides, and prior to that spent three years managing government affairs for the Biotechnology Innovation Organization. CropLife America — the main lobby group for the pesticide industry, of which Bayer is a gold sponsor — gave him a “Rising Star” award in 2020. World Hunger News
Lynn Ann Dekleva — EPA Deputy Assistant Administrator for New Chemicals
Dekleva also held this role during the first Trump administration. In between, she was a senior director at the American Chemistry Council lobby group. She is a 30-year veteran of DuPont chemical company. World Hunger News
Revolving Door — Key Lobbyists with Trump Admin Ties
Jonathan Blum — Venture (Lobby Firm)
Blum held several senior roles within the U.S. Department of the Treasury during both Trump terms. He was deputy assistant secretary for legislative affairs from 2018 to 2021, returned to Treasury in January 2025 as principal deputy assistant secretary, and served as acting assistant secretary through much of 2025 before joining Venture in December. University of Illinois
Nicholas Uhelecke — Venture
Uhelecke was a senior advisor to the Secretary of Health and Human Services during the first Trump administration (2019–2021), and prior to that was professional staff and senior legislative assistant on the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health from 2011 to 2019. University of Illinois
Jennifer Scheller Neumann — Holland & Hart
Neumann served for over 20 years in every leadership rank within the appellate section of the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the DOJ, most recently as chief directing litigation involving nearly every major environmental and natural resources statute. She departed DOJ in May 2025 and joined Holland & Hart. University of Illinois
Financial Investments in the Administration
Bayer donated $2 million directly to Trump’s inaugural funds and spent $9.19 million lobbying Congress and federal agencies — including the EPA, USDA, and DOJ — on pesticide regulation, litigation liability, agriculture policy, and chemical regulation in 2025. Stimson Center
What Bayer Got in Return
The White House invoked the Defense Production Act to guarantee supplies of glyphosate-based herbicides. Regulators reapproved dicamba, a Bayer herbicide twice blocked by federal courts. The DOJ filed a Supreme Court brief on Bayer’s behalf on pesticide preemption, placing the weight of the executive branch against thousands of Americans who say Bayer’s products caused their cancers. University of Illinois
The network is essentially a closed loop:
Bayer’s money flows to lobbyists with deep Trump ties → those lobbyists gain access to a White House run by their former colleagues → the administration staffs the EPA and DOJ with former pesticide industry figures → those agencies rule in Bayer’s favor.
To have our food system and government in the hands of a German, agrochemical conglomerate is a national security threat.
Please contact your member of Congress and urge them to support Representatives Massie and Pingree Introduce Bipartisan “No Immunity for Glyphosate Act.”
You can find your representative here.
A very special thanks to Stacy Malkan, co-founder and managing editor of U.S. Right to Know, for her in depth reporting on this, as seen in her February 24, 2026 article, Tracing Bayer’s Ties to Power in Trump’s Washington.