In a wide-reaching interview with podcaster Joe Rogan, Calley Means—who recently left the Trump White House after serving under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—charged senior administration strategists with prioritising the agendas of powerful industries over the public good. Means argued that the president should consider a “clear-house” move to remove officials who are, in his view, beholden to special-interest groups. The former aide’s criticism, aired on a Friday episode, highlighted what he described as a pattern of policy-making that favours corporate benefactors, especially in sectors such as health care, finance, and energy.
Allegations of favoritism from a former health adviser
Means asserted that a core circle of advisers routinely catered to powerful lobbyists, shaping decisions that align with private profit rather than voter interests. He pointed to instances where regulatory rollbacks and budget allocations appeared to benefit large contractors and pharmaceutical firms. While he did not name every individual, Means emphasized that the administration’s own strategic communications team had been instrumental in framing narratives that downplayed the influence of these backers. The former aide’s remarks have sparked a fresh debate about transparency and accountability within the current administration, especially as the White House faces increasing scrutiny from both Congress and the media.
Labor Department’s crypto-friendly 401(k) proposal reaches the White House
On November 5, the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) logged a final rule from the Department of Labor titled “Fiduciary Duties In Selecting Designated Investment Alternatives,” identified by RIN 1210-AC38. The rule, deemed economically significant, outlines a safe-harbor framework that could permit private-market assets—including cryptocurrency—to be offered within employer-sponsored 401(k) plans. The proposal, originally unveiled on March 30, requires plan fiduciaries to evaluate six non-exhaustive factors—performance, fees, liquidity, valuation, benchmarks, and complexity—before adding any alternative investment to a plan’s menu.
Under the new guidance, a fiduciary who follows a documented process addressing those six criteria would receive a presumption of prudence under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). The rule does not obligate plans to add crypto, but it reduces legal risk for those who choose to do so. Deputy Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling framed the approach as neutral, stating that the department is no longer “picking winners and losers.” This marks a reversal from a May 2025 decision that had warned plan sponsors to exercise “extreme care” before including digital assets.
The backdrop for the rule is President Donald Trump’s August 7 2025 executive order titled “Democratizing Access to Alternative Assets for 401(k) Investors.” That order instructed the Labor Secretary to revisit ERISA guidance and propose calibrated safe harbors for a range of alternative assets, from private-equity and real-estate to actively managed digital-asset vehicles. The March 2024 proposal operationalized that mandate, and the November filing indicates the rule is now awaiting final White House clearance. OIRA review, mandated by Executive Order 12866, is the last inter-agency checkpoint before publication in the Federal Register.
Political forces shaping the rule’s fate
Since its initial release, the proposal has ignited a partisan tug-of-war. Progressive senators such as Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren urged the Labor Department to abandon the crypto-friendly path, warning of consumer-protection risks. Conversely, House Republicans have pressed to codify Trump’s executive order into statutory law, hoping to broaden access to alternative assets for the roughly 90 million defined-contribution savers in the United States. Industry groups, including major asset managers, have submitted extensive comments defending the safety-harbor framework, while labor organizations argue that the rule could expose workers to undue volatility.
Should the White House approve the final rule, plan committees would have a clearer roadmap for evaluating digital-asset sleeves. Analysts estimate that even a modest 2 % allocation of the $10.8 trillion 401(k) market to cryptocurrency would channel approximately $216 billion into the sector. Nonetheless, the rule’s adoption would not instantly place Bitcoin or other tokens on every retirement menu; it merely provides a procedural shield for those who elect to diversify with digital assets.
With OIRA’s review pending and no statutory deadline for completion, the timing of the final publication remains uncertain. Stakeholders on both sides continue to monitor the process closely, aware that the eventual language could either cement a new era of retirement-plan diversification or retreat from the crypto-inclusion experiment. The outcome will likely shape the investment landscape for millions of American workers seeking exposure to emerging asset classes within their retirement savings.
