Susie Wiles usually helps shape headlines quietly. She is rarely the center of their attention.
That changed dramatically on Tuesday after Vanity Fair. published a widely reported profile of the 68-year-old White House chief of staff, whose decades-long career in politics was defined by a measured, level-headed tone that could never be construed as undermining her boss' authority.
In Vanity Fair's two-part piece, which included 11 interviews over nearly a year with White House cooperation, Wiles appears far more outspoken than her public persona. She not only speaks openly about both President Donald Trump and those at the core of his administration, but appears to acknowledge that at times she has found herself at odds with some of the policies that have been central to Trump's second term. While it is not uncommon for a chief of staff to disagree with the president he serves, such concerns usually remain part of private conversations.
Wiles said there was “enormous disagreement” over the tariffs, acknowledged the administration should take a “closer look” at the mass deportation process and said she needed to “accept” Trump's decision to allow full pardon of the accused for the events of January 6. She said she initially believed that only those who had not committed violent acts were eligible for pardon.
The profile drew widespread pushback from the White House and Trump's political orbit. A central theme of the conversation was that the profile lacked context, with supporters criticizing the media for being unfair, rather than offering any direct refutation of the authenticity of the quotes or what was being reported.
Wiles herself also issued a rare public condemnation.
“Much context was ignored, and much of what I and others said about the team and the president was left out of the story,” she said. published on social networks. “After reading it, I assume this was done to create an extremely chaotic and negative narrative about the President and our team.”
IN interview in the New York Post, Trump defended his top staffer.
“I think from what I'm hearing the facts were wrong and it was a very misled interviewer, deliberately misled,” – he said.
Trump added, “She's great,” when asked if he still has complete confidence in Wiles.
Wiles did not respond to a request for comment.
The broader questions raised by this review are now likely to be twofold: Can Wiles continue to do his job effectively on behalf of a president who is known to dislike bad headlines, and why did the administration agree to participate?
“I don’t know what they were thinking,” said a former administration official who, like others involved in this article, was granted anonymity in order to speak candidly. “You can't trust Vanity Fair. I have complete trust in the people around President Trump, but I'm not sure what they were thinking here.”
Dozens of prominent Republicans, including 10 of Trump's current Cabinet secretaries, FBI Director Cash Patel and Donald Trump Jr., came to Wiles' defense, highlighting not only her influence in the White House but also her respected reputation as a tactician and political strategist.
“In the context of my forty-year career on Wall Street, which included meetings with hundreds of world leaders, Susie Wiles is the single most efficient operator I have ever met,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. published on social networks. “No one is more insightful, efficient and loyal. She never loses sight of the big picture while managing day-to-day affairs.”
Wiles ran Trump's Florida campaign in 2016 and 2020, co-chaired his national campaign in 2024 and served as his sole chief of staff during his second administration. While this long-standing relationship gives her significant influence and credibility with the president, Trump typically doesn't tolerate bad headlines or negative attention for long periods of time. This makes the Vanity Fair article one of the first major tests of his devotion to his longtime confidante.
“I can't imagine what made her fully cooperate with Whipple,” said Wiles' longtime friend, whose relationship with her goes back to her time as an operative in Florida, referring to Chris Whipple, the author of the profile. “He is a serious journalist who will not sugarcoat his words.”
The person said they thought there was a “50/50” chance Wiles would be able to keep his job if the backlash to the profile became too intense.
“Nothing in the article makes it look great,” this person said.
Wiles also acknowledged that there was an element of “score-settling” involved in Trump's pursuit of his political opponents.
“I don’t think he wakes up thinking about retribution,” she said. “But when the opportunity comes, he’ll take it.”
She toned down those comments on Sunday. interview with The New York Times, which was given an extended copy of the Vanity Fair profile.
“It's not that he thinks they hurt him, which they did,” she said. “He believes that what they did was wrong and they should not be able to do to someone what they did to him, and the way to make it right, at least potentially, is to expose what was done.”
Wiles first discussed retaliation with Vanity Fair in a March interview. Since then, the Trump administration has investigated several of its alleged political opponents, including opening a mortgage fraud investigation into the New York attorney general. Letitia Jameswho has sued Trump in the past over his past business dealings; Representative Adam Schiffthe California Democrat who was the lead prosecutor in Trump's first impeachment trial; and member of the Federal Reserve Board Lisa Cookwhom Trump has tried to fire in the past.
It was only James's investigation that led to the indictment that was later fired. Ministry of Justice then failed successive attempts to provide charges against James after her initial dismissal, although prosecutors may try to charge her again.
Separately, a federal judge last month dismissed the Trump administration's case against the former FBI director. James Comeywho was accused of making a false statement and obstructing Congress. The Justice Department has not yet said whether it will seek to re-indict Comey following another adversarial ruling in the case.
Although Wiles has toned down her initial March comments about retaliation, her acknowledgment that there were “settling scoresIn each case, Trump publicly tried to downplay investigations that had anything to do with political “revenge.”
“This is about justice, not revenge,” Trump said when Comey was first indicted in September.
In a series of interviews with Vanity Fair, Wiles also called Vice President J.D. Vance a “conspiracy theorist,” something he brushed off during a speech on the economy in Alburtis, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday.
“Sometimes I am a conspiracy theorist, but I only believe in conspiracy theories that
really,” Vance said, drawing applause from the crowd. “And by the way, Susie and I have been joking about this in private and in public for a long time.”
Vance then fiercely defended Wiles.
“And Susie Wiles — we disagree, we agree on a lot more than we disagree,” Vance said. “But I've never seen her be disloyal to a President of the United States, and that makes her the best White House chief of staff that I think a President could ask for.”
“The last thing I will say,” he added. “If any of us have learned a lesson from that Vanity Fair article, I hope the lesson is that we should do fewer interviews with the mainstream media.”
