An interview article in which White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, a closest aide to U.S. President Donald Trump, described President Trump as having an "alcoholic personality" was published on the 16th (local time), sparking controversy.
The U.S. pop culture monthly Vanity Fair said it conducted 11 interviews with Chief of Staff Wiles from just before the inauguration of Trump's second term this year to recently and published an article with those details.
According to the article, Chief of Staff Wiles said of President Trump, "He has the personality of an alcoholic," adding, "He acts with the view that there is nothing he cannot do." Wiles, a former National Football League (NFL) star whose father lived with alcoholism, said, "Their personalities are exaggerated when they drink," and added, "So I am something of an expert on people with strong personalities."
Wiles said she proposed "selective pardons" regarding the pardons for those involved in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot after Trump took office, but it was not accepted. However, she said she "came to agree to some extent" with Trump's decision in the end. As for indictments of Trump's political enemies and opponents, she said, "I do not think we are seeking retribution," but later acknowledged that investigating New York Attorney General Letitia James on loan fraud allegations "could be a form of retribution."
On the deportation of undocumented immigrants, which was partially halted by the judiciary, she said, "I acknowledge that we need to review the procedures further," adding, "If there are questions, we should lean toward revalidation." Regarding the forced deportation of a woman who had an American child during a large-scale deportation operation against undocumented immigrants after the launch of the Trump 2.0 administration, she pointed out, "I cannot understand how such a mistake could be made, but someone did it."
Wiles said there was "tremendous disagreement" among aides over the reciprocal tariff that Trump imposed on countries in April. "We suggested to President Trump, 'Let's not talk about tariffs today. Let's wait until the team is fully aligned,'" she said, adding that Trump's eventual decision to release the reciprocal tariff "was more painful than expected."
Her unvarnished criticism of senior officials in the Trump administration is also drawing attention. Wiles said of Vice President JD Vance, "He was a conspiracy theorist for 10 years," and said his shift from a critic of Trump to an active supporter was "for a kind of political reason." She also called Tesla Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Elon Musk "a self-professed ketamine user and very, very eccentric," adding, "Like many geniuses, he is a strange person." She went on to recount an episode in which, when Musk pushed early in the administration to abolish the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), she summoned him to the White House and issued a stern warning.
Wiles, the chief of staff who is called the president's closest aide and the White House's "most powerful figure," is known for rarely sending external messages. For that reason, this interview, which appears to lay bare her inner thoughts, is seen as highly unusual. The New York Times (NYT) called it an "extraordinarily unguarded interview."
As her unfiltered assessments of not only senior Trump administration officials but also President Trump stirred controversy, Wiles claimed the remarks attributed to her in the article were stitched together. On her X (formerly Twitter), she said, "The article published early this morning is a malicious piece dishonestly constructed about me, the greatest president, White House staff, and the Cabinet," adding, "Important context was ignored, and a significant portion of what I and others said about the team (the Trump administration) and the president was omitted."