Before they were President Donald Trump’s cabinet members, Linda McMahon and Brooke Rollins had their sights set on an even bigger title: White House chief of staff.
To land the coveted post, the two women tried to undercut Trump aide Susie Wiles—who ultimately got the job—according to an excerpt from ABC News correspondent Jonathan Karl’s forthcoming book published Thursday in Vanity Fair.
A day after Trump’s election victory, McMahon, 77, and Rollins, 53, reportedly rushed to Mar-a-Lago. Word had spread in Trump’s inner circle that he was preparing to meet with Wiles, then-67, to offer her the top job—and McMahon and Rollins were staging an intervention, according to the excerpt of the book, Retribution: Donald Trump and the Campaign That Changed America.
But Wiles had tricks up her sleeve. When the two women arrived at Mar-a-Lago, several Trump aides who had worked with Wiles on the campaign trail slowed them down on their way to Trump’s office. They even orchestrated a phone call with now–Vice President J.D. Vance to delay the wannabe chiefs, Karl reported.
Their efforts were ultimately successful. By the time McMahon and Rollins made it to Trump’s office, he had already offered the role to Wiles.
Dubbed the “ice maiden” by Trump, Wiles is the first female chief of staff in U.S. history.
“Susie was the only choice for Chief of Staff, and she was the perfect choice. President Trump picked someone who has been loyal from Day 1 and there is nobody more talented and respected than Susie,” White House spokesperson Steven Cheung wrote in a statement to the Daily Beast. “There’s a reason why President Trump calls her the ‘Most Powerful Woman in the World’—because she is,“ he added.
A spokesperson for the Department of Agriculture told the Daily Beast it was “completely false” that Rollins wanted Wiles’ job.
“This is a completely false narrative that was invented by the fake news media,” they wrote. “Secretary Rollins was 100 percent supportive of Susie Wiles as campaign director, before she became chief of staff, and as chief of staff. No one deserved it more and as expected - she has done an incredible job and will go down as the best Chief of Staff in history.”
Wiles has already lasted eight years in Trump’s inner circle, surviving his 2020 election loss, which led him to fire members of his administration who questioned his claims of election fraud.
She was upgraded from director of Trump’s 2016 campaign in Florida to senior adviser to his 2024 election bid.
“He is a better leader now,” Wiles said of Trump on his daughter-in-law Lara Trump’s Fox News show. She credited his development to “life experience.”
McMahon, who co-founded World Wrestling Entertainment, was later named Trump’s secretary of education.
While she served as the head of the Small Business Administration during Trump’s first term, her educational experience is limited. McMahon served briefly on the Connecticut board of education and earned a teaching certificate, but she only worked as a student teacher.
But her minimal experience is unimportant to Trump, who has instructed McMahon to gut the department.
Rollins was tapped to lead the Department of Agriculture. She previously served on Trump’s 2016 Economic Advisory Council and as director of the Domestic Policy Council during his first term. She holds a degree in agricultural development from Texas A&M University but before her appointment ran the America First Policy Institute, a nonprofit aiming to implement Trump’s policies.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the Department of Education for comment.
