By KATELYN CARALLE, SENIOR U.S. POLITICAL REPORTER
Published: | Updated:
Donald Trump has made it clear that his chief of staff isn’t going anywhere despite her painting a highly unflattering picture of the administration in a series of interviews with Vanity Fair.
Susie Wiles, 68, was with Trump for the entire day after the bombshell report dropped where she said her boss has an ‘alcoholic’s personality.’
The president, meanwhile, laughed at suggestions he would fire his top advisor who has stuck by his side for years, aides told the Wall Street Journal.
But one senior administration official says Trump wasn’t exactly pleased Wiles decided to give her tell-all to glossy magazine, and claimed the publication has ‘never good to us.’
Wiles traveled with Trump from Washington, D.C. to Dover, Delaware on Wednesday for the dignified transfer of two Iowa National Guard soldiers and one interpreter killed during an ambush in Syria.
She was also in the room hours later for his end-of-year remarks to the nation from the White House.
Only a few photographers and television cameras were allowed in the room for the speech, but they observed Trump turning to Wiles after the less than 20-minute address and asking how he did.
‘I told you 20 minutes and you were 20 minutes on the dot,’ Wiles said, according to recounts of the post-speech conversation.
President Donald Trump has defended his Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and made clear she will remain in the post, saying: ‘She’s doing a great job’
Trump, however, wasn’t sure why Wiles spoke to Vanity Fair for her tell-all, claiming the publication has ‘never good to us,’ according to a report
The interaction was a clear sign that the president still looks for the approval of his Chief of Staff despite the Vanity Fair piece.
Coming back from the dignified transfer on Wednesday, Trump stopped to briefly speak with the press under the wing of Air Force One.
Asked if Wiles would remain his Chief of Staff, Trump said: ‘Yeah, she’s doing a great job.’
He moved on without saying anything else. All the while, his top aide was standing by the group and listening to the line of questioning.
It’s often noted how different Wiles is from her boss. Insiders have described how the mother of two adult daughters barely swears, goes to church every week and is much more sparse with her words only speaking when she has something to say.
Colleagues tell the Journal that her sharpest criticism is usually the question: ‘Did you think that was helpful?’
She also steers clear of the social scene in Washington, DC.
All of this is leading to head-scratching in the beltway over why she gave 11 on-the-record, unfiltered interviews with Vanity Fair.
Hours after the piece went live at 7:00 AM on Tuesday, Trump spoke with the New York Post to staunchly defend Wiles and assure he hasn’t lost confidence in her.
Wiles was expressive during her boss’s meeting with Israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office on February 4, 2025
Asked about her claiming he has an ‘alcoholic’s personality,’ the president said admitted he has a ‘possessive’ and ‘addictive’ personality.
‘She meant that I’m you see, I don’t drink alcohol. So everybody knows that but I’ve often said that if I did, I’d have a very good chance of being an alcoholic. I have said that many times about myself, I do. It’s a very possessive personality,’ Trump said.
Trump cites the reason for his abstinence from alcohol being the 1981 death of his older brother Fred at the age of 42 after an alcohol-induced heart attack.