(Washington) Susie Wiles, President Donald Trump’s discreet but influential chief of staff, criticized Attorney General Pam Bondi’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case and defended tooth and nail the president’s offensive second-term policies in a series of interviews published Tuesday in Vanity Fair.
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In these revealing and in-depth conversations, Mme Wiles told the magazine he underestimated the scandal involving fallen financier Jeffrey Epstein, but sharply criticized the way Mme Bondi managed the affair and the public’s expectations.
She also said Mr. Trump wanted to continue bombing suspected drug-trafficking boats off the Venezuelan coast until Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro “capitulated.”
Mme Wiles also indicated that he had reached an “informal agreement” with Mr. Trump for his campaign of retaliation against his adversaries to end before the first 90 days of his second term, while it continues well beyond this deadline.
Mr. Trump appointed Susie Wiles to the post after she led his successful 2024 campaign. She is the first woman to serve as White House chief of staff and is known for her discretion.
It is rare that she speaks at such length and openly about the president as in these interviews granted to the magazine Vanity Fairwho published a lengthy article with her and other White House and Cabinet staff.
Mme Wiles speaks with the Vanity Fair since shortly before Mr. Trump took office last January.
Attorney General Pam Bondi criticized
PHOTO JESSICA KOSCIELNIAK, REUTERS ARCHIVES
United States Attorney General Pam Bondi
Asked about Epstein, Mme Wiles admitted that she didn’t really care “if all these rich and influential men were going to this sordid island and committing unforgivable acts on young girls.” She said she had read the Epstein dossier and that Mr. Trump was not included in it “for anything improper.” He and Epstein were friends before they had an argument.
The Justice Department must release all documents relating to Epstein by Friday, after Mr. Trump, having opposed their release, signed a law requiring their disclosure.
Susie Wiles criticized M’s handling of the caseme Bondi, including distributing binders earlier this year to a group of social media influencers containing no new information about Epstein. The distribution sparked even more demands from Mr. Trump’s supporters for the release of the documents.
“I think she completely underestimated the fact that this group was the very one that cared about this matter,” Ms.me Wiles on the Attorney General. First, she gave them empty binders. Then she claimed that the witness list, or client list, was on her desk. There is no client list, and it certainly wasn’t on his desk. »
An “alcoholic personality”
During his interviews, Mme Wiles described the president behind the scenes very similarly to his public image: an intense personality who sees the big picture, but cares little for the details of procedures and policies. She added, however, that he was not as angry or temperamental as is often made out to be, while acknowledging his determination and implacability to take revenge on those he considers his political enemies.
Donald Trump, she said, has “an alcoholic personality,” even though the president doesn’t drink. But she recognized this character trait in her father, the famous sports commentator Pat Summerall.
“Functional alcoholics, or alcoholics in general, have an exacerbated personality when they drink. So I’m a bit of an expert in strong personalities,” she explained, adding that Mr. Trump is “convinced of being capable of anything. Absolutely everything. »
Regime change in Venezuela
Concerning Venezuela, Mme Wiles said Trump wants to keep the pressure on President Maduro: “He wants to keep blowing up boats until Maduro capitulates.” And people far more knowledgeable than I on this subject say he will. »
His comment, however, appears to contradict the administration’s position that the strikes are aimed at stopping drug trafficking and saving American lives, not regime change.
She said the administration is “absolutely certain it knows who it is targeting.”
The continued strikes and rising death toll attracted the attention of Congress, which responded and opened investigations.
Desire for revenge
Mme Wiles described his job as largely about channeling Mr. Trump’s energy, whims and political goals, including his desire for revenge against his political adversaries, everyone he holds responsible for his 2020 election defeat and those who filed criminal charges against him after his first term.
“We have an informal agreement that the settlement will end before the end of the first 90 days,” Ms.me Wiles at the start of his administration, confiding in Vanity Fair that she was working to curb Mr. Trump’s propensity for revenge.
Later in 2025, she qualified her remarks. “I don’t think he’s out for revenge,” she said, arguing that he’s acting on a different principle, where he doesn’t want what happened to him to “happen to anyone else.”
“In some cases it can feel like revenge. And there can be an element of revenge, from time to time. Who could blame him? Certainly not me. »
Asked about the prosecution of New York Attorney General Letitia James for mortgage fraud, Susie Wiles conceded: “Well, maybe it would be a form of retaliation. »
