WH chief of staff Susie Wiles says Trump has ‘alcoholic’s personality’ in explosive interview

Wiles reveals Trump’s powerful mindset

Donald Trump on Tuesday voiced his support for White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles after she described him as having an "alcoholic's personality" in a striking Vanity Fair interview.

In the interview, Wiles also labelled Vice President JD Vance a "conspiracy theorist," called tech entrepreneur Elon Musk an "odd, odd duck," and shared candid assessments of other figures in the Trump administration.

Trump has previously referred to Wiles, the first female White House chief of staff, as the "ice maiden," praising her role in advancing his second presidency behind the scenes.

The 68-year-old Wiles now faces heightened attention following the Vanity Fair piece, which the publication said was based on multiple interviews conducted over the past year by political journalist Chris Whipple.

Wiles criticised the article as a "disingenuously framed hit piece," accusing the magazine of attempting to "paint an overwhelmingly chaotic and negative narrative" about Trump's team.

"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 wrote.

Trump told the New York Post that Wiles’ description was accurate, despite him being teetotal.

"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.

Vanity Fair quoted Wiles -- whose own father, the NFL announcer Pat Summerall was an alcoholic -- as saying that Trump has "an alcoholic’s personality," and "operates (with) a view that there's nothing he can’t do. Nothing, zero, nothing."

In the wide-ranging series of interviews, Wiles said she was "not an enabler" to Trump, who has unleashed an unprecedented display of presidential power since his return to power in January, adding "I'm also not a bitch."

But she was forthright about Space X and Tesla boss Elon Musk's role as head of the cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency in the first months of Trump's term.

Describing billionaire Musk as a "complete solo actor" and "avowed" ketamine user, she criticized DOGE's shutdown of the USAID international aid department.

"No rational person could think the USAID process was a good one," Vanity Fair quoted her as saying.

Wiles hailed what she called a "core team" of Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller but said Vance had been "a conspiracy theorist for a decade" regarding the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.

Trump's chief of staff had barbed comments for Attorney General Pam Bondi, saying Bondi "completely whiffed" the promised release to right-wing influencers of documents about convicted sex offender Epstein.

She called Russ Vought, the hardline chief of the White House Office of Management and Budget, a "right-wing absolute zealot," Vanity Fair said.

The magazine said Wiles gave revealing insights into Trump's policies on key domestic and foreign policy issues too.

She said she had a "loose agreement" with Trump to end the "score settling" against his political enemies after 90 days, even as he has continued to target his foes with calls for their prosecution.

On Ukraine, Wiles said that Trump believes Russian President Vladimir Putin "wants the whole country," despite Washington's push for a peace deal.

Top Trump cabinet members lined up to defend Wiles and lash out at the Vanity Fair piece.

"We have our disagreements, we agree on much more than we disagree, but I've never seen her be disloyal to the president of the United States," Vance said in a speech in Pennsylvania.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on X that there was "absolutely nobody better!"

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters outside the West Wing that Wiles was "incredible" and accused Vanity Fair of the "bias of omission."