White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles has publicly disputed a Vanity Fair article that portrays her offering sharply critical assessments of President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and the administration’s internal dynamics.
In a post on X, Wiles stated the profile disregarded “significant context” to fabricate “an overwhelmingly chaotic and negative narrative.” The 68-year-old, a key architect of Trump’s 2024 victory and the first woman to serve as his White House chief of staff, did not specify which quotes she contested.
The article, based on nearly a dozen interviews, quotes Wiles describing Trump as having “an alcoholic’s personality”—a comparison she linked to her upbringing with an alcoholic father, saying it made her an “expert in big personalities.” She was also quoted calling Vance a “conspiracy theorist” for a decade.
On other topics, Wiles acknowledged “there may be an element of” retribution in Trump’s efforts to pursue legal cases against political adversaries, though she added, “I don’t think he wakes up thinking about retribution. But when there’s an opportunity, he will go for it.”
President Trump defended Wiles in a New York Post interview, calling her “fantastic” and suggesting she had been “deceived” by the writer. He indicated her comments about his personality aligned with his own past self-descriptions.
Wiles, widely seen as one of the most powerful figures in Trump’s second term, has a long history with the president, having managed his 2016 Florida campaign and later led his Save America fundraising operation.
By James Kisoo
