Donald Trump, who told voters he won’t listen to lobbyists, is again giving top jobs to lobbyists, after having relied on lobbyists during his campaign.

Susie Wiles, his new chief of staff, is a former lobbyist for the Pebble Mine project.

The New York Times reports that Wiles helped sign up the Pebble Partnership as a client for Ballard Partners in 2019.

Ballard Partners, founded by Trump financial backer Brian Ballard, was hired to lobby the Trump White House and the Trump EPA to promote the Alaska mine proposal.

Brian Ballard parlayed his close ties to Trump into a major expansion of his firm during the first Trump administration. He has raised millions for Trump.

Trump supported the Pebble Mine until Don Jr., who had gone fishing in Bristol Bay, pleaded with his dad to kill the project in 2020. Tucker Carlson and others sided with junior.

The watchdog group Public Citizen has details of Wiles’s lobbying for 42 clients between 2017 and 2024.

“In 2011, Ms. Wiles joined Ballard Partners. After Mr. Trump’s victory in 2016 — a campaign that Ms. Wiles ran in Florida and for which Mr. Ballard was a top financial backer — she helped Ballard Partners open an office in Washington, where there was in high demand for the firm’s services because of its ties to Mr. Trump,” the New York Times reported.

Politico reported in 2022 that the Pebble Partnership ended four Washington, D.C. lobbying contracts “for now.” The mine backers hired numerous lobbying firms over the years.

In 2018, Politico reported that although Matt Gaetz was close to Trump, “Gaetz sometimes needs help from Ballard lobbyists to get what he wants from the West Wing. ‘Even as a friend of the president who speaks frequently with the president, sometimes I have to call Susie Wiles to get my way,’ he said.”

Pam Bondi, the new Trump pick for attorney general after the Gaetz implosion, is also a former lobbyist for Ballard Partners.