WASHINGTON\u00a0\u2014\u00a0President Trump\u2019s chief of staff is defending herself after granting an extraordinarily candid series of interviews with Vanity Fair in which she offers stinging judgments of the president and blunt assessments about his administration\u2019s shortcomings.<\/p>\n
The profile of Susie Wiles, Trump\u2019s reserved, influential top aide since he resumed office, caused a scandal in Washington and prompted a crisis response from the White House that involved nearly every single figure in Trump\u2019s orbit issuing a public defense.<\/p>\n
In 11 interviews<\/a> conducted over lunches and meetings in the West Wing, Wiles described early failures and drug use by billionaire Elon Musk during his time in government and mistakes by Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi in her public handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files. Wiles also acknowledged that Trump had launched a retribution campaign against his perceived political enemies<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think he wakes up thinking about retribution,\u201d Wiles told Chris Whipple, the Vanity Fair writer who has written extensively on past chiefs of staff, \u201cbut when there\u2019s an opportunity, he will go for it.\u201d<\/p>\n Wiles also cited missteps in the administration\u2019s immigration crackdown, contradicted a claim Trump makes about financier and convicted sex offender Epstein and former President Clinton and described Vice President JD Vance as a \u201cconspiracy theorist.\u201d <\/p>\n Within hours of the Vanity Fair tell-all\u2019s publication Tuesday, Wiles and key members of Trump\u2019s inner circle mounted a robust defense of her tenure, calling the story a \u201chit piece\u201d that left out exculpatory context.<\/p>\n \u201cThe article published early this morning is a disingenuously framed hit piece on me and the finest President, White House staff, and Cabinet in history,\u201d Wiles said in a post on X, her first in more than a year. \u201cSignificant context was disregarded and much of what I, and others, said about the team and the President was left out of the story.\u201d <\/p>\n The profile was reported with the knowledge and participation of other senior staff, and illustrated with a photograph of Wiles and some of Trump\u2019s closest aides, including Vance, Bondi and advisor Stephen Miller.<\/p>\n The profile revealed much about a chief of staff who has kept a discreet profile in the West Wing, continuing her management philosophy carried through the 2024 election when she served as Trump\u2019s last campaign manager: She let Trump be Trump. \u201cSir, remember that I am the chief of staff, not the chief of you,\u201d she recalled telling the president.<\/p>\n Trump has publicly emphasized how much he values Wiles as a trusted aide. He did so at a rally last week where he referred to her as \u201cSusie Trump.\u201d In an interview with Whipple, she talked about having difficult conversations with Trump on a daily basis, but that she picks her battles.<\/p>\n \u201cSo no, I\u2019m not an enabler. I\u2019m also not a bitch. I try to be thoughtful about what I even engage in,\u201d Wiles said. \u201cI guess time will tell whether I\u2019ve been effective.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite her passive style, Wiles shared concern over Trump\u2019s initial approach to tariff policy, calling the levies \u201cmore painful than I had expected.\u201d She had urged him, unsuccessfully, to get his retribution campaign out of the way within his first 90 days in office, in order to enable the administration to move on to more important matters. And she had opposed Trump\u2019s blanket pardon of Jan. 6 defendants, including those convicted of violent crimes.<\/p>\n Wiles also acknowledged the administration needs to \u201clook harder at our process for deportation,\u201d adding that in at least one instance mistakes were made when Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested and deported two mothers and their American children <\/a>to Honduras. One of the children was being treated for Stage 4 cancer.<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t understand how you make that mistake, but somebody did,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n