Donald Trump’s chief of staff is in damage control after a series of damning interviews about the White House, in which she shared bombshell revelations about the president’s retribution campaign, JD Vance’s conspiracy theory tendencies, and Elon Musk’s ketamine use.
Hours after Susie Wile’s tell-all was published in Vanity Fair on Tuesday morning, sending shockwaves through Washington, she issued a rare statement on social media trying to walk it back.
“The article published early this morning is a disingenuously framed hit piece on me and the finest President, White House staff, and Cabinet in history,” she wrote on X.
“Significant context was disregarded and much of what I, and others, said about the team and the President was left out of the story. I assume, after reading it, that this was done to paint an overwhelmingly chaotic and negative narrative about the President and our team.
“The truth is the Trump White House has already accomplished more in eleven months than any other President has accomplished in eight years and that is due to the unmatched leadership and vision of President Trump, for whom I have been honored to work for the better part of a decade.
“None of this will stop our relentless pursuit of Making America Great Again!”
Wiles’ comments came after she gave a series of astonishingly unguarded interviews over the first year of Trump’s second term to Vanity Fair author Chris Whipple.
In the two-part series, she also described Trump as having an “alcoholic’s personality”—something she experienced firsthand with her later father, legendary football player and commentator Pat Summerall.
“High-functioning alcoholics or alcoholics in general, their personalities are exaggerated when they drink,” she said. “And so I’m a little bit of an expert in big personalities.”
Wiles also confirmed that the president is in the Epstein files, but is “not in the file doing anything awful,” and acknowledged that Trump was not telling the truth when he accused Bill Clinton of visiting Jeffrey Epstein’s private island.
The GOP operative also described Russell Vought, head of the Office of Management and Budget, as a “right wing absolute zealot”; took aim at Attorney General Pam Bondi’s handling of the Epstein firestorm; and said that Vance’s conversion from a Never Trumper to MAGA acolyte had been driven by political ambition.
Such a raw on-the-record interview is rare for a serving White House chief of staff, but all the more so for the typically media-shy Wiles.
Long viewed as one of the architects behind Trump’s 2024 campaign revival and now a central force inside the West Wing, the 68-year-old grandmother has spent years cultivating a reputation as a disciplined, discreet operative—someone who not just advises Trump, but tries to keep him focused and filters out the noise for him.
Trump has also long been a staunch defender of his top aide, whom he affectionately calls “Ice Maiden” and once praised as “the most powerful person in the world.”
Wiles was the first major staffing appointment the president made after winning the election last year, marking the first time that a woman has held the position of chief of staff in the White House.
But her jaw-dropping interviews in Vanity Fair are not the first time she has been in the spotlight.
Last month, as reported by the Daily Beast, some of Trump’s longtime supporters started blaming her for his missteps on everything from the Epstein files to his America First agenda.
“She needs to go before she gets him destroyed in the midterms,” wrote one social media user in a sentiment shared by many others.
But Trump allies and family members—including Vance, Donald Trump Jr. and Robert F Kennedy Jr.—hit back to staunchly defend her.
“The Twitter trolls running their mouths don’t know the first thing about Susie Wiles or how this White House works,” Vance told the Daily Beast at the time.
“There are few people in this world that have done more to advance the MAGA agenda than Susie, and we are all incredibly grateful for the leadership she brings to this administration.”
Donald Trump Jr. added that Wiles “has been the most loyal and trusted advisor and friend my father could have ever asked for” and “has built a White House and Administration carrying out the America First Agenda.”
On Tuesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also defended Wiles.
“Chief of Staff Susie Wiles has helped President Trump achieve the most successful first 11 months in office of any President in American history,” she posted alongside Wiles’s X statement.
“President Trump has no greater or more loyal advisor than Susie. The entire Administration is grateful for her steady leadership and united fully behind her.”
FBI director Kash Patel also weighed in, writing on X: Fake news comes after you when you’re effective… and there’s nobody in @realDonaldTrump’s team more effective than @SusieWiles."
Trump, however, has not yet commented.
