Jason Miller's firm was paid $150,000 a month by India. Filings list eight calls, then an exit

A watchdog account posted on November 9 that India paid Donald Trump adviser Jason Miller's firm $150,000 a month to lobby Washington and that the firm "set up 8 calls with top Trump officials before he joined the administration." The dollar figure and the eight calls are documented in Justice Department filings under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. The post is a lead, not a substitute for those records, and it is not a finding of illegal lobbying or a secret bargain.

The account, @Swamp_Tracker, is a Blue-verified brand created in June 2025. It is not identity-verified on X, does not name an editor on its site, and describes itself as a political news operation that "exposes corruption and hypocrisy," formerly called Swamp Watch. Its about page says it asks the same questions of both parties, while the topics it lists tilt heavily toward Trump-world spending and conflicts. In a first reply to the November 9 post, posted at 2:02 p.m. Eastern, the account linked its source: a November 7 report in The Indian Express on the latest FARA filing. The underlying documents, not the social post, are the primary record.

View this post on X

Those documents show a written contract at $150,000 a month, later renewed, then ended. They list eight phone calls and two embassy events in May and June 2026 as political activity on behalf of the Republic of India. They also show that Miller, the firm's sole member and principal, terminated his connection with India on June 23, 2026, the same day the registrant said its work for India ended, after he joined the Trump administration as a special government employee. India's Ministry of External Affairs, responding to coverage of the filings, called a related post misleading and said it is normal for embassies in Washington to hire lobbying firms. No official body has issued a finding of wrongdoing. Jason Miller should not be confused with Stephen Miller, the White House official who is a different person.

The contracts set a $150,000 monthly fee#

SHW Partners LLC registered under FARA as registration number 7578 on April 24, 2025. The registration statement describes a Delaware limited liability company organized on July 25, 2019, with a primary business address at 4532 Cherry Hill Road, #571, Arlington, Virginia. It states that SHW is a single-member LLC and that the member is Jason Miller, who uses the title of principal. The firm's regular work is described as strategic advisory, communications support, public relations, and government affairs. Its only listed foreign principal was the Republic of India, in care of the Embassy of India in Washington.

The original Exhibit A/B contract, dated April 24, 2025, and signed that day by Miller and by the embassy's head of chancery, set a monthly fee of $150,000 for services from April 24, 2025, through April 23, 2026. India agreed to pay $450,000 in advance each quarter, no later than April 30, July 30, October 30, and January 30. The monthly fee covered expenses except for pre-approved business-class travel. Either side could terminate on 90 days' written notice, still owing fees accrued through the notice period. The scope of work was "strategic counsel, tactical planning, and government relations assistance" before the U.S. government, Congress, state governments, academic institutions, think tanks, and other stakeholders.

A renewed agreement, dated April 24, 2026, and attached to an Exhibit B received by the FARA Unit on June 17, 2026, kept the $150,000 monthly fee and extended the term through April 23, 2027. An amendment filed the same day said the only material change was that India would pay monthly rather than quarterly. The new letter also shortened the termination notice from 90 days to 30 days. Kathleen Shannon signed the June 17 forms under penalty of perjury.

The fee in the Swamp Tracker post is therefore the contract rate, not an invented number. It is also not, by itself, a statement that every scheduled month was paid in full.

Disclosed receipts add up to $1.65 million, with a gap in the quarterly schedule#

Three supplemental statements cover the relationship. They are the firm's sworn account of money received, not an independent audit.

The supplement for the period ending October 31, 2025, received December 7, 2025, lists $450,000 received from the Embassy of India on April 25, 2025, and $450,000 on July 28, 2025, for a period total of $900,000. The supplement for the period ending April 30, 2026, received June 17, 2026, lists $450,000 on January 26, 2026, and $150,000 on April 27, 2026, for a period total of $600,000. The later $150,000 payment falls three days after the renewed contract began. The final supplement, for the period ending October 31, 2026, received August 9, 2026, lists one more receipt: $150,000 in compensation from the embassy on June 3, 2026.

Those five payments total $1.65 million. The original contract contemplated four quarterly advances of $450,000, or $1.8 million, for the first year. A payment dated around the October 30, 2025, quarterly due date does not appear on the three supplements opened for this article. That absence is a fact about the forms, not proof that a payment was missed, delayed, or omitted for an improper reason.

$0

$200K

$400K

$600K

Apr. 25, 2025$450,000

Jul. 28, 2025$450,000

Jan. 26, 2026$450,000

Apr. 27, 2026$150,000

Jun. 3, 2026$150,000

Apr. 25, 2025Jul. 28, 2025Jan. 26, 2026Apr. 27, 2026Jun. 3, 2026

Source: SHW Partners supplemental statements, FARA registration 7578

Show the numbers

Date received	Amount
Apr. 25, 2025	$450,000
Jul. 28, 2025	$450,000
Jan. 26, 2026	$450,000
Apr. 27, 2026	$150,000
Jun. 3, 2026	$150,000

FARA registration does not, by itself, establish that a contact produced a policy change. Similar foreign-principal filings have been the starting point for other recent 567 Politics reporting, including a Trump-aligned firm's work for Republika Srpska and a media campaign for Israel run by a firm tied to Brad Parscale. Those stories, like this one, rest on public forms and on what those forms do and do not prove.

The latest filing lists eight phone calls and two embassy events#

The August 9 supplement is the document behind the "8 calls" line. In an appendix answering Item 12, the firm listed the following political activities on behalf of India, each with the purpose "Discuss India-U.S. relations."

The eight phone calls were: Deputy National Security Adviser Michael Needham on May 7; Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Gene Lange, and Needham again, all on May 18; U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on June 2; Assistant to the President for Policy Walker Barrett on June 14; Assistant to the President and White House communications director Steven Cheung on June 16; and Greer again on June 17. The same appendix lists two "Embassy event" contacts with Secretary of State Marco Rubio on May 23 and May 24.

The appendix entries, as printed on the form, are:

Lange's title on the form is "Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence (PDO)." The table shortens that title. The appendix is the source for every row (SHW Partners supplemental statement, received Aug. 9, 2026).

The Indian Express, in its November 7 article, described the eight calls as having been arranged between "senior White House officials and the Indian government" and named the same U.S. officials. The Tribune, on November 8, used similar language. The appendix itself identifies the U.S. official in the "Contact" column and the method as a phone call or embassy event. It does not name the Indian officials on the line, and it does not describe what was said beyond the one-line purpose. The accurate statement is that the firm reported these contacts as political activity for India; Indian newspapers, citing the filing, described them as arranged calls with the Indian government. Both readings should stay attached to their sources.

The May 23 and 24 entries coincide with Rubio's visit to India. The Indian Express reported that Rubio was in India from May 23 to May 26 for America @250 events hosted by the U.S. Embassy, and that Miller was in New Delhi at the time. In a July 7 Indian Express article, written after the visit but before the August termination filing became public, a U.S. Embassy spokesperson said, "Miller is visiting India as a private citizen to join the America 250 celebration and to visit his longtime friend, Ambassador Gor." The spokesperson was answering a question about Miller's presence, not about the FARA appendix, which had not yet been filed.

The eight calls in the August appendix were not the firm's first listed contacts. Earlier supplements, covering late 2025 and the first months of 2026, already recorded numerous calls, emails, and at least one dinner with senior officials, including Bessent, Greer, Cheung, then-White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and others. Some May 2025 entries gave a more specific purpose than the later "Discuss India-U.S. relations" line, including "Discuss media coverage of Operation Sindoor." Those earlier items are part of the same registered relationship. They are also a reminder that the November social-media framing, which isolated eight calls, was a slice of a longer disclosure record.

The firm said the work ended when Miller entered the government#

On the August 9 supplement, the firm answered yes to whether its connection with a foreign principal had ended and listed the Republic of India, with a termination date of June 23, 2026. In the same form, it said Miller, a short-form registrant and the principal, terminated his connection with India on the same date. The registrant listed no continuing foreign principals. Disbursements in connection with the India work were marked as not applicable. Political contributions by the registrant in that period were also marked no on the pages reviewed for this article.

That June 23 date is the firm's sworn statement. It sits beside a slightly different public timeline of the White House job. On July 1, CNN, citing three sources familiar with the matter, reported that Miller was "expected to join the White House" in a special government employee role focused on messaging around the president's accomplishments, and that "the paperwork and details are still being finalized." CNN said it had reached out to Miller for comment. The Washington Post had earlier reported discussions about bringing him in as part of a midterm messaging effort. Later Indian coverage of the August filing, including The Indian Express and The Tribune, described him as having joined as a special government employee and treated June 23 as the end of the contract.

A special government employee is a federal personnel category, not a finding about ethics. People in that role are still subject to conflict-of-interest rules. Terminating a foreign-principal relationship before entering government is the step the FARA filing records. The forms do not say, and 567 Politics did not find, a public Justice Department, Office of Government Ethics, or congressional finding that Miller or the firm violated those rules. The absence of a public finding is not a clean bill of health, and the existence of a contract and a contact list is not a conviction.

567 Politics also did not locate a public comment from Miller, from SHW Partners, or from the White House specifically about the August filing or about the November coverage. CNN's July outreach concerned the hire, not the later appendix.

India said embassy lobbying is normal and already public#

The Ministry of External Affairs responded on November 7, the same day The Indian Express published the eight-call story. News18 reported that the ministry's fact-check account, @MEAFactCheck, posted: "This post is misleading. It is a normal practice in the US for Embassies and other entities to hire a lobby firm. Indian Embassy in Washington DC has hired such firms since 1948. These details are available in the public domain." The ministry also addressed a separate firm, Mercury Public Affairs LLC, which Indian coverage had linked to a congratulatory post by Trump about Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "In so far the filing done by Mercury Public Affairs LLC is concerned, it clearly mentions that they only disseminated the post on X," the ministry said.

That statement does not deny the SHW contract or the listed contacts. It places them in a category the government considers ordinary, long-standing, and already disclosed. The Tribune, in its November 8 report, also noted that the Indian Embassy in Washington has engaged lobbying firms in the United States since 1948. After Trump returned to office in 2025, The Indian Express reported, the embassy hired two firms with ties to his circle: SHW Partners at $150,000 a month and Mercury at $75,000 a month. Those are separate contracts. This article is about the SHW record. Mercury's work should not be folded into Miller's firm, and the ministry's clarification about dissemination of a social post applies to Mercury, not to the eight SHW calls.

Rubio's May trip, and the trade and tariff strains that Indian coverage associated with it, are the diplomatic backdrop, not proof that any one listed call produced a concession. Rubio has also been at the center of a separate Republican argument over how to define an America First foreign policy, including on Iran, which 567 Politics has reported on its own terms. The FARA purpose lines do not mention that debate.

1. Apr. 24, 2025SHW Partners registers and signs a one-year India contract at $150,000 a month, paid quarterly.
2. Apr. 24, 2026The contract is renewed through Apr. 23, 2027, with monthly payments.
3. May 23–24, 2026The firm lists two embassy events with Secretary Rubio during his visit to India. Eight phone calls with other senior officials are listed in May and June.
4. June 23, 2026The firm reports that its India work, and Miller's connection with India, ended as he joined the administration as a special government employee.
5. July 1, 2026CNN reports that Miller is expected to join the White House and that paperwork is still being finalized.
6. Aug. 9, 2026The firm files the supplement that lists the eight calls, the final $150,000 receipt, and the June 23 termination.
7. Nov. 7–9, 2026The Indian Express reports the appendix; India's foreign ministry responds; Swamp Tracker circulates the $150,000 and eight-call figures on X.

Source: SHW Partners FARA registration 7578, The Indian Express, Nov. 7, 2026, CNN, July 1, 2026

What is confirmed, and what the filings do not settle#

The confirmed core is narrow and documentary. India, through its Washington embassy, hired Jason Miller's single-member firm at a contractual rate of $150,000 a month, first in April 2025 and again in April 2026. The three FARA supplements opened for this article list $1.65 million in receipts from the embassy. The August 2026 supplement lists eight phone calls and two embassy events with named senior U.S. officials in May and June as political activity on behalf of India, all described as discussions of India-U.S. relations. The same filing says the work and Miller's connection with India ended on June 23, 2026. The Indian Express and The Tribune reported those facts from the forms. Swamp Tracker repeated the monthly fee and the eight-call figure, linking the newspaper story as its source.

Several claims that often travel with this kind of post are not established by the record opened here. The filings do not show what was said on the calls, whether Indian officials were on every line, or whether any conversation changed a tariff, a visa policy, or a presidential statement. They do not show that Miller continued to lobby for India after June 23. They do not include a public comment from Miller or the White House on the August appendix. They do not include a complete first-year payment series matching the original quarterly schedule. They are not a ruling by a court, the Justice Department, or an ethics office.

Foreign-agent disclosure exists so that the public can see paid political activity for a foreign principal. The SHW forms do that work. They also show a registered relationship that the firm said it cut off when the principal moved into government. That is the publishable story. The viral framing is a shortened version of the same paperwork, not an independent investigation and not a verdict.

Differing perspectives

How should the public read Jason Miller's firm's paid work for India before he joined the White House?

Each position is summarized as its supporters make it, with equal weight and in alphabetical order. A summary is not an endorsement; the evidence for each is weighed in the story above.

• Read it as a disclosed representation that then ended

  Who holds it: SHW Partners LLC, in its August 2026 FARA supplement

  The firm's FARA filings present the work as a registered, contractual representation that was disclosed as required and then ended. SHW Partners reported a written agreement to provide strategic counsel and government-relations assistance for India, listed its political contacts and receipts, and stated that both the registrant's connection with India and Jason Miller's connection as principal ended on June 23, 2026, when he entered the administration as a special government employee. On the same form, the firm listed no continuing foreign principal.

  In their words: U.S. Department of Justice, FARA Unit ↗

• Treat it as ordinary, already public embassy lobbying

  Who holds it: India's Ministry of External Affairs

  India's Ministry of External Affairs argues that coverage treating the arrangement as a scandal is misleading. The ministry says it is a normal practice in the United States for embassies and other entities to hire a lobbying firm, that the Indian Embassy in Washington has done so since 1948, and that the details are already in the public domain. In the same statement it distinguished a separate firm's filing, saying Mercury Public Affairs reported that it only disseminated a presidential social-media post.

  In their words: News18, quoting the Ministry of External Affairs ↗

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