They came for Susie Wiles, and the White House closed ranks.
After a Vanity Fair profile took aim at President Trump’s chief of staff, senior figures across the administration — starting with the president himself — moved swiftly and publicly to defend her.
Wiles on Tuesday ripped into the liberal mag over an interview she says was twisted into what she called a “disingenuously framed hit piece” aimed at her and the Trump administration.
The article touched on Vice President JD Vance, Attorney General Pam Bondi’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files, and Elon Musk — but Wiles says the framing was deliberate and misleading.
“Significant context was disregarded and much of what I, and others, said about the team and the President was left out of the story,” Wiles wrote on X. “I assume, after reading it, that this was done to paint an overwhelmingly chaotic and negative narrative about the President and our team.”
She didn’t stop there.
“The truth is the Trump White House has already accomplished more in eleven months than any other President has accomplished in eight years and that is due to the unmatched leadership and vision of President Trump, for whom I have been honored to work for the better part of a decade,” she continued.
Trump said Wiles was right to describe him as having an “alcoholic’s personality,” a line that landed with more self-awareness than critics expected.
“No, she meant that I’m — you see, I don’t drink alcohol. So everybody knows that — but I’ve often said that if I did, I’d have a very good chance of being an alcoholic. I have said that many times about myself, I do. It’s a very possessive personality,” Trump said.
“I’ve said that many times about myself. I’m fortunate I’m not a drinker. If I did, I could very well, because I’ve said that — what’s the word? Not possessive — possessive and addictive type personality. Oh, I’ve said it many times, many times before.”
He dismissed the magazine outright.
“I didn’t read it, but I don’t read Vanity Fair — but she’s done a fantastic job,” Trump told The New York Post.
Others followed. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard praised Wiles as steady, direct, and focused — the opposite, she suggested, of chiefs who see their role as managing or constraining a president.
“I haven’t known Susie Wiles for very long, but from my very first meeting with her, to my frequent conversations with her now, I have always appreciated how she is a straight shooter, provides good counsel, and focuses on solutions,” Gabbard wrote. She added that Wiles respects “the mandate voters delivered in electing President Trump” and is focused on “executing his vision and delivering for the American people.”
Vice President JD Vance put it more bluntly.
“The President and the entire team love Susie because she is loyal and good at her job. An extremely rare combo in the halls of power.”
Donald Trump Jr. went longer and deeper, recalling the bleak days after Jan. 6, when much of the political class treated his father as finished.
“Susie Wiles is by far the most effective and trustworthy Chief of Staff that my father has ever had,” he said. “Countless operatives, consultants, and elected Republicans thought my dad’s political career was over… Not Susie. She was a loyal fighter for him from the moment she came on board.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi, also mentioned in the Vanity Fair piece, framed the response as familial rather than tactical.
“My dear friend @SusieWiles fights every day to advance President Trump’s agenda – and she does so with grace, loyalty, and historic effectiveness,” Bondi wrote. “We are family. We are united.”
And HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. offered the kind of praise that lands like a verdict.
He called Wiles “the most perfect presidential chief of staff in modern American history.”
In Washington, profiles come and go. Loyalty, competence, and results endure.
