In a stunning series of revelations, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles has delivered a series of blunt assessments of key figures in Donald Trump's administration, including the President himself, in a lengthy interview with Vanity Fair magazine. The interview, published on Tuesday, December 16, 2025, has sent shockwaves through political circles, prompting an immediate and forceful denial from Wiles, who labeled the piece a "disingenuously framed hit piece."
Explosive Character Assessments Surface
The veteran political journalist Chris Whipple conducted the interviews with Wiles over the past year. According to Vanity Fair, Wiles described the 79-year-old President, who is a known teetotaler, as having "an alcoholic's personality." She elaborated that Trump operates with "a view that there's nothing he can't do. Nothing, zero, nothing." Wiles, whose father, NFL announcer Pat Summerall, battled alcoholism, made the comparison while noting Trump's own brother, Fred, was an alcoholic and died of a heart attack at age 42.
Wiles did not hold back in her comments about other high-profile administration allies. She referred to Vice President JD Vance as a "conspiracy theorist," specifically referencing his past comments on the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. She characterized his political evolution from a fierce Trump critic to a loyal follower as "sort of political."
Musk, Bondi, and the "Core Team"
Tech billionaire Elon Musk, who served as head of the cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) early in Trump's term, was labeled an "odd, odd duck" and an "avowed" ketamine user by the Chief of Staff. She sharply criticized DOGE's shutdown of the USAID international aid department, stating, "No rational person could think the USAID process was a good one. Nobody."
While she praised a "core team" that included Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, Wiles had barbed comments for others. She said Attorney General Pam Bondi "completely whiffed" on the promised release of documents about Epstein to right-wing influencers. She also called Russ Vought, the head of the Office of Management and Budget, a "right-wing absolute zealot."
Swift Denial and Accusations of a "Hit Piece"
Within hours of the article's publication, Susie Wiles took to social media platform X to issue a vehement rebuttal. In her first post on the platform in over a year, she defended the administration and accused Vanity Fair of malicious editing.
"The article published early this morning is a disingenuously framed hit piece on me and the finest president, White House staff, and cabinet in history," Wiles wrote. "Significant context was disregarded and much of what I, and others, said about the team and the President was left out of the story." She accused the magazine of attempting to "paint an overwhelmingly chaotic and negative narrative about the president and our team."
Wiles, who is the first female White House Chief of Staff and has been credited by Trump himself for her behind-the-scenes role in his second term, insisted she was "not an enabler" to the President. She added, "I'm also not a bitch," pushing back against the portrayal she anticipated from the interview's fallout. The 68-year-old operative now finds herself at the center of a fierce political storm, her private candor creating a very public crisis for the Trump White House.
