6 takeaways from Trump chief of staff Susie Wiles’ unvarnished interviews

By Aaron Blake, CNN

Analysis: It was eight years ago that then-Trump White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci gave one of the most unvarnished - and infamous - political interviews of all time. Scaramucci made off-colour remarks about the White House's chief strategist and derided its chief of staff as a "paranoid schizophrenic".

White House chief of staff Susie Wiles' two-part set of interviews with Vanity Fair isn't as crass as Scaramucci's, but it's in the same vein - and perhaps even more stunning from someone known as a studied, behind-the-scenes operator. When the history of the Trump presidencies is written, it's likely to figure substantially.

The Vanity Fair articles appear to have rocked the administration, with Wiles distancing herself from her portrayal on Tuesday morning (US time). She said on X that it was "a disingenuously framed hit piece on me and the finest President, White House staff, and Cabinet in history." She said it was missing context.

Below are some takeaways from the interview.

1. Wiles is not exactly flattering toward Bondi, Musk and Vance

The money quote from the interview might be Wiles saying that Trump - a known teetotaller - has an "alcoholic's personality".

Trump gave Wiles a vote of confidence in an interview later on Tuesday with the New York Post, casting doubt on the accuracy of the report. But he suggested he saw some truth in her comment about him, because even though he doesn't drink, he does have a "possessive and addictive type personality".

"I didn't read it, but I don't read Vanity Fair - but she's done a fantastic job," Trump told the Post.

But Wiles' comments about other top officials are even more interesting - and often uncharitable.

Indeed, they're the kinds of quotes that could create some hard feelings internally.

She said that Attorney General Pam Bondi "completely whiffed" with her handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files. "First she gave them binders full of nothingness. And then she said that the witness list, or the client list, was on her desk," Wiles said. "There is no client list, and it sure as hell wasn't on her desk."

Bondi said on Tuesday her "dear friend" Wiles fights for Trump's agenda "with grace, loyalty, and historic effectiveness," writing on X that the administration will not be divided. "We are family. We are united."

Wiles indicated that Elon Musk's approach to the Department of Government Efficiency was just as chaotic and careless as it seemed from the outside. "Elon's attitude is you have to get it done fast," Wiles said, adding: "But no rational person could think the USAID process was a good one. Nobody." She also suggested much of the chaos was linked to his alleged use of ketamine.

"He's an avowed ketamine (user)," Wiles said, adding "I think that's when he's microdosing."

(Wiles denied those quotes to The New York Times, but the Times says Vanity Fair played its tape of Wiles saying these things.)

And her comments about Vice President JD Vance are more subtly biting.

For one, she said he's "a conspiracy theorist". And secondly, she described his evolution from Never-Trumper to Trump loyalist as "a little bit more, sort of political" than what she cast as Secretary of State Marco Rubio's more principled shifts.

That is not how Vance has described his own evolution; he's said it came because he realised he was wrong about Trump.

Vance on Tuesday praised Wiles for her loyalty to Trump. Asked about the conspiracy theorist comments after giving a speech in Pennsylvania, Vance said: "I only believe in the conspiracy theories that are true."

2. She undercut Trump's public message on the boat strikes and Venezuela

It's hardly just palace intrigue in these pieces; Wiles also weighs in on key issues in ways that call into question how they've been sold to the public.

Indeed, she suggests the administration has obscured the true purpose of its legally dubious strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean.

While Trump has said they're about stopping drugs from reaching the United States, Wiles indicated it's about applying pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

"He wants to keep on blowing boats up until Maduro cries uncle," Wiles said.

While the two campaigns are certainly related - Trump has said Maduro's "days are numbered" and CNN has reported the administration has been quietly planning for what would happen if he were ousted - this is not how the boat strikes have been sold. And given the stakes here - this involves possible regime change and even a threatened invasion - it's pretty stunning to see Wiles be so candid about Maduro.

Wiles also said that Trump would need congressional approval for a land war in Venezuela - which the president has said he doesn't.

"If he were to authorise some activity on land, then it's war, then (we'd need) Congress," she said.

When Trump was asked about this last month, he said, "We don't have to get their approval. But I think letting them know is good."

3. She comes across as a willing enabler

Another of the money quotes from Wiles is this one: "So no, I'm not an enabler. I'm also not a bitch."

But the totality of the interviews suggest she's played the role of enabler plenty. Indeed, she seems to be the kind of malleable figure we might have expected to be leading the White House at a time when it seems anything Trump wants, goes.

She distanced herself from or suggested she was uncomfortable with many things. Those include: Trump's tariffs, his pardons of those associated with the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot, his retribution against his foes, the USAID cuts, Signalgate, his deportations and the administration's handling of Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell.

But her prevailing attitude seems to be that Trump and others are just going to do stuff and that bad stuff happens - even on issues as serious as dismantling USAID, which eliminated live-saving AIDS treatments in Africa.

"I was initially aghast," Wiles said. "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."

But she added that Musk's approach meant "you're going to break some china".

"But he decided that it was a better approach to shut it down, fire everybody, shut them out, and then go rebuild," Wiles said. "Not the way I would do it."

She also suggested she has tried to limit Trump's targeting of his foes. But she said, "Who would blame him? Not me."

If there's one quote that encapsulates all this, it might be her comments on Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr.

"He pushes the envelope - some would say too far," Wiles said. "But I say in order to get back to the middle, you have to push it too far."

That seems to be how Wiles justifies plenty of things she disagrees with. And it's certainly created a permission structure for Trump.

4. She admits Trump is out for retribution

Just as Wiles seems to enable Trump without wanting to use that word for it, she also makes clear Trump is out for retribution. She just doesn't want to call it that.

"I don't think he's on a retribution tour," she said at one point.

But the rest of her comments tell the tale.

For one, she said she and Trump had an informal agreement that his "score settling" would end after 90 days. Trump clearly didn't abide by that.

"In some cases, it may look like retribution," she said. "And there may be an element of that from time to time."

She also said of the attempted prosecution of New York Attorney General Letitia James, "Well, that might be the one retribution."

Then she added of Trump, while talking about the attempted prosecution of former FBI director James Comey: "I don't think he wakes up thinking about retribution. But when there's an opportunity, he will go for it."

In other words, yes, it's retribution.

5. Rubio says he'll defer to Vance in 2028

Wiles wasn't the only one making news. We actually got a big early signal about the 2028 GOP presidential primary, courtesy of Rubio.

"If JD Vance runs for president, he's going to be our nominee, and I'll be one of the first people to support him," Rubio told Vanity Fair.

Vance has been the clear frontrunner in early polling of the primary, but Rubio is generally considered in the top two. Trump hasn't been shy in talking about the possibility of the two of them running together on the same ticket.

To the extent Rubio's deference holds, it's a big get for Vance.

6. Her big political concerns for Trump and the GOP

On some key issues, Wiles indicated she fears Trump and the administration are alienating key voters.

She suggested that the Epstein files could cost the Republican Party some very important voters who have a tenuous relationship with the GOP.

"The people that are inordinately interested in Epstein are the new members of the Trump coalition, the people that I think about all the time - because I want to make sure that they are not Trump voters, they're Republican voters," Wiles said. "It's the Joe Rogan listeners. It's the people that are sort of new to our world. It's not the MAGA base."

She also, perhaps more significantly, echoed bubbling concerns in the GOP that Trump is too focused on foreign policy and not enough on issues like affordability.

"More talks about the domestic economy and less about Saudi Arabia is probably called for," Wiles said. "They like peace in the world. But that's not why he was elected."

But she was otherwise bullish on the GOP's hopes.

"We're going to win the midterms," she predicted.

Still, if Trump's attacks on affordability as a "Democrat hoax" are any indication, Wiles has not prevailed on Trump to change his focus. But the picture of Trump's chief of staff in these interviews is of someone who is content to disagree, try her best, and see what happens.

-CNN