An exclusive interview with President Donald Trump’s Chief of staff is making multiple headlines Tuesday.
White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles said that President Trump has “an alcoholic’s personality,” that Russell Vought, head of the Office of Management and Budget was a “right-wing absolute zealot,” that Vice President JD Vance has been a decade-long “conspiracy theorist” and that Attorney General Pam Bondi “whiffed” on realizing how important the release of the Epstein files was for Trump’s base.
Wiles has since disputed the contents of the article on X, calling it, “a disingenuously framed hit piece.”
Spanning before Trump’s inauguration till just last month, Wiles engaged in a series of interviews with Vanity Fair’s Chris Whipple for a two-part article, giving rare insight into the ongoings of the Trump administration and the president himself from arguably the most powerful woman in American politics.
The articles covered almost every aspect of Trump’s second term, from the ongoing Jeffrey Epstein saga to the military’s ongoing strikes on suspected drug boats operating in the Caribbean. Although a firm supporter of Trump’s agenda, Wiles spoke very candidly about times in which she raised concerns over some of Trump’s and those in his orbit’s decisions, and even spoke out when Trump was wrong. Wiles shared that “there is no evidence” backing Trump’s claims that former President Bill Clinton had visited Epstein’s island 25 times. She shared that there was nothing incriminating about Clinton in the Epstein files.
“The president was wrong about that,” Wiles said.
Here are some of the top moments from Wiles’ interviews:
Wiles shared that while Trump’s name does appear in the Epstein files; there is also nothing of concern in the files. She lamented Bondi’s handling of the Epstein files, which has been a major point of concern for many of Trump’s supporters.
“I think she completely whiffed on appreciating that that was the very targeted group that cared about this,” Wiles said in an interview with Vanity Fair.
She recounted the day that many conservative social media influencers attended the White House and were handed thick-ring binders with the words “The Epstein Files:Phase 1” written across the cover. Wiles said the information was nothing new.
“First she gave them binders full of nothingness. And then she said that the witness list, or the client list, was on her desk. There is no client list, and it sure as hell wasn’t on her desk,” Wiles said.
In July, the Justice Department released a joint memo with the FBI revealing that there was no evidence that a client list existed, leading to mass calls by Democratic and multiple Republican Congressional members to have the Trump administration release the files in its entirety.
Trump has long called the Epstein saga to be a “Democrat hoax” created to undermine his presidency, but many people have raised concerns over Trump’s friendship with Epstein in the early 2000s.
“[Trump] is in the file. And we know he’s in the file,” Wiles said. “And he’s not in the file doing anything awful.” Wiles said that Trump “was on [Epstein’s] plane, he’s on the manifest. They were, you know, sort of young, single, whatever — I know it’s a passé word but sort of young, single playboys together.”
State Department Marco Rubio described Wiles role as being Trump’s “facilitator” in ensuring that Trump’s vision for the country was met. So, when Trump shared with Wiles his plan to pardon all 1,600 individuals involved in the Jan. 6 Capitol riots, even the violent offenders, Wiles shared that she had some reservations at first with granting pardons for everyone.
“I am on board with the people that were happenstancers or didn’t do anything violent. And we certainly know what everybody did because the FBI has done such an incredible job,” Wiles said.
She shared that Trump argued that the violent offenders were given harsher sentences than what sentencing guidelines suggested.
“In every case, of the ones he was looking at, in every case, they had already served more time than the sentencing guidelines would have suggested. So given that, I sort of got on board,” Wiles said.
“There have been a couple of times where I’ve been outvoted,” Wiles said. “And if there’s a tie, he wins.”
Wiles shared in March that she and Trump had a “loose agreement that the score settling will end before the first 90 days are over.”
But in August, amid the Trump administration’s investigations into the Obama administration’s role in inflating the Russia gate hoax, Wiles shared Trump wasn’t actually seeking retribution.
“I don’t think he’s on a retribution tour,” Wiles said. “‘I don’t want what happened to me to happen to somebody else.’ And so people that have done bad things need to get out of the government. In some cases, it may look like retribution. And there may be an element of that from time to time. Who would blame him? Not me.”
But in September, Trump posted on Truth Social calling on Pam to bring criminal charges to former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James calling them “guilty as hell,” and bringing up how Democrats have impeached him twice and indicted him five times.
Wiles conceded that Trump’s focus on James “might be the one retribution.”
Wiles shared her dismay with how Elon Musk, Trump’s special government employee tasked with temporarily leading the Department of Government Efficiency, went about shuttering the United States Agency for International Development, stating “no rational person could think the USAID process was a good one. Nobody.”
She shared that Musk was the one calling the shots to shut down the agency, and said she was “initially aghast” by the decision.
“Because I think anybody that pays attention to government and has ever paid attention to USAID believes, as I did, that they do very good work,” Wiles said.
“When Elon said, ‘We’re doing this,’ he was already into it,” Wiles said. “And that’s probably because he knew it would be horrifying to others. But he decided that it was a better approach to shut it down, fire everybody, shut them out, and then go rebuild. Not the way I would do it.”
She shared that Trump wasn’t really involved in the details on the closing down of USAID.
“The president doesn’t know and never will,” Wiles said. “He doesn’t know the details of these smallish agencies.”
Wiles called Musk a “solo-actor,” sharing how when Rubio was sent to Panama to essentially act as “custodian” in the midst of Musk’s dismantling of USAID, that Musk “forged” ahead.
“So Marco is on his way to Panama. We call him and say, ‘You’re Senate-confirmed. You’re going to have to be the custodian, essentially, of [USAID].’ ‘Okay,’ he says.” But Musk forged ahead — all throttle, no brake. “Elon’s attitude is you have to get it done fast,” Wiles said. “If you’re an incrementalist, you just won’t get your rocket to the moon,” Wiles said. “And so with that attitude, you’re going to break some china. But no rational person could think the USAID process was a good one. Nobody.”
