This week in Washington was supposed to be all about Epstein and healthcare. We are still waiting on the Epstein files and the prospect of a bipartisan deal on healthcare remains as farfetched as ever.
What no one expected was that the ‘grown-up’ in the White House, the one person in the administration who shies away from microphones and cameras, would become the story this week. Yesterday we learned that the President’s politically savvy Chief of Staff (COS), Susie Wiles, had participated in not just one or two, but eleven interviews over several months with Vanity Fair reporter and ‘COS’-whisperer Chris Whipple.
The two part blockbuster included multiple gems from Wiles on a variety of White House personnel which give the series a sort of “burn book” vibe (you’d have to have seen “Mean Girls” to get that reference). Among other things Wiles says the following of her colleagues:
President Trump is a leader with an “alcoholic’s personality” who is intent on “retribution” against his perceived enemies
Vice President JD Vance has been “a conspiracy theorist for a decade”
Former head of DOGE, Elon Musk is “an odd, odd duck,” an “avowed ketamine” user who “sleeps in a sleeping bag in the EOB [Executive Office Building] in the daytime”
Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought is a “right wing absolute zealot”
Attorney General Pam Bondi “whiffed” in her handling of the Epstein files
Wiles also lets us behind the curtain as it pertains to critical policy issues. In the process, she managed to contradict both the president and the administration’s public statements on a variety of critical issues:
Economy & Tariffs: it is an area that Wiles says she wishes the president would get back to, a comment which amounts also to an admission from inside the West Wing that Trump has not had his eye on “bread and butter issues.” She also acknowledged “huge disagreements” over Trump’s reciprocal tariffs and admitted the entire tariff process has been “painful.”
Venezuela: Wiles confirms what we already suspected, that the boat attacks off the coast of Venezuela are not about stopping the drug trade but regime change: “He [Trump] wants to keep on blowing boats up until Maduro cries uncle”
USAID: She describes being “initially aghast” at Musk’s dismantling of USAID, “because I think anybody that pays attention to government and has ever paid attention to USAID believed, as I did, that they do very good work.”
J6 Pardons: Wiles praised the FBI’s investigation into J6 and advised Trump not to pardon all 1,500+ defendants because the list included violent offenders, a suggestion he ignored
Deportations: On Trump’s signature issue, immigration, she conceded “we’ve got to look harder at our process for deportation” noting that errors had been made. She added that in one instance mistakes were made when ICE arrested and deported two mothers and their American children, one of whom was being treated for Stage 4 cancer, to Honduras. “I can’t understand how you make that mistake, but somebody did.”
Israel: Wiles said she was concerned after Trump praised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a “war hero.” “I’m not sure he fully realizes that there’s an audience here that doesn’t love it,” she added.
Immediately on publication, the White House circled the wagons. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, for instance, tweeted that Wiles, “has helped President Trump achieve the most successful first 11 months in office of any President in American history.”
Wiles herself took to social media for the first time since October 2024 to denounce the piece and argue her words were taken out of context. The problem for Wiles is Whipple has stated publicly that all the interviews were taped and neither Wiles nor the White House has contested that.
For decades various high level officials in administration after administration, including Trump 1.0 and Biden, would sit down with legendary journalist Bob Woodward. Whipple, who literally wrote the book on WH COS’s, may be the new Woodward. Even without his stunning prose, the glossy photo spread that accompanied the piece and includes so many Trump administration officials speaks volumes.
