WASHINGTON — May Mailman, a former senior policy strategist to President Trump who left the White House last year to start a consulting firm, is returning to the administration on a temporary basis to help new chief of staff Stephen Miller with West Wing operations and staffing, Axios first reported Monday.
Mailman will assist Miller with “White House operational processes and identifying additional staffing needs,” according to a source familiar with the move cited by Axios. Semafor reported Wednesday that she will serve as a special government employee, and that Miller asked her to help him staff up his team and “find ways to optimize relationships between government entities.” Miller took over as chief of staff from Susie Wiles, who moved to the president’s political operation, as the Inquisitor reported Nov. 8.
Mailman ruled out a policy role, in part over concerns that one would fuel a perception of impropriety, according to a person with knowledge of her thinking quoted by Semafor. She has taken a leave of absence from her firm, has informed her clients of the new role and has instructed the firm not to engage with the White House while she serves there over the next few weeks, Semafor reported, citing people familiar with the arrangement. The White House did not immediately respond to Semafor’s request for comment.
Mailman served as deputy assistant to the president and senior policy strategist from January to August 2025, according to Axios. Her last day in that post was Aug. 1, 2025, CBS News reported at the time, adding that she would become a special government employee then as well, to tie up loose ends on policy work. CBS reported that she had told colleagues she was starting a government affairs firm and would not take on clients tied to a limited number of administration projects, including negotiations with Harvard University over frozen federal research funding. She worked all four years of Trump’s first term, in the staff secretary’s office, the chief of staff’s office and the White House counsel’s office, CBS reported.
The firm and its clients
Her firm, MPL Strategies, lists Mailman as its owner. Her biography on the firm’s website says she has “helped dozens of American companies get their priorities across the finish line,” advising on “policy priorities, strategies, messaging, and legal and political risks and opportunities” in industries including artificial intelligence, energy, health care, media, banking and mergers and acquisitions. The biography says she graduated from Harvard Law School, clerked for Judge Timothy M. Tymkovich of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, served as deputy solicitor general of Ohio and is legal director of the nonprofit Independent Women.
Semafor, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that her clients have included Vestis, a uniform supplier that has urged the Federal Trade Commission to block a rival’s acquisition, as well as Netflix, Meta, HPE, Comcast and KKR. Semafor said Mailman and the companies declined to comment or did not respond. The Inquisitor has not independently confirmed the client list.
The federal lobbying database shows no registration for Mailman or her firm. A search of Lobbying Disclosure Act registrants on Thursday returned no firm named MPL Strategies, and a search of registered lobbyists returned no one named Mailman. Under the Lobbying Disclosure Act, a person must be listed as a lobbyist for a client only if he or she makes more than one lobbying contact for that client and spends at least 20% of his or her time on lobbying activities for it during a quarter. Consultants who advise clients on strategy without contacting covered officials themselves are not required to register.
What the temporary status means
A special government employee is someone hired to perform temporary duties for no more than 130 days in any 365-day period, under the definition in 18 U.S.C. 202. Special government employees are covered by the main federal conflict-of-interest statute, 18 U.S.C. 208, which bars executive branch employees from participating personally and substantially in particular matters in which they, their spouse, an organization they serve as an officer or employee, or a person with whom they are negotiating for or have an arrangement concerning prospective employment has a financial interest, unless they receive a waiver.
Semafor framed her return as a test of the administration’s efforts to limit lobbyists’ influence inside the White House. Semafor also noted that Mailman has avoided the publicity some lobbyists court and that the firewall she described between her clients and her firm contrasts with other administration power brokers who openly tout their relationships with officials.
Her return is one of the first staffing moves of Miller’s tenure as chief of staff. Mailman has worked closely with Miller for years, including, according to Semafor, on the administration’s actions against Harvard and Columbia over what the administration called their failure to address antisemitism on campus.
Featured photo: The West Wing of the White House in April 2019. (Dan Scavino / The White House, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; cropped)
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