President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday named Susie Wiles as his White House chief of staff in his upcoming administration, the campaign announced.
When she assumes the role, Wiles will make history as the first ever female White House chief of staff.
“Susie Wiles just helped me achieve one of the greatest political victories in American history, and was an integral part of both my 2016 and 2020 successful campaign,” Trump said in a statement. “Susie is tough, smart, innovative and is universally admired and respected.”
Wiles is the daughter of former NFL player and broadcaster Pat Summerall. She has worked in Republican politics since the late 1970s and worked as a campaign scheduler for Ronald Reagan in 1980 before joining his administration. After taking time away from politics, she joined Trump’s Florida operations in his 2016 run and followed that up by helping Florida’s Ron DeSantis in his campaign to succeed Rick Scott as governor.
Wiles was fired from the Trump campaign in 2019 after she was blamed her for leaks that DeSantis appeared to be selling access to special interests on golfing trips. In an official statement, Wiles said she decided to leave the team on her own, citing health reasons.
However, Trump called Wiles in 2020 and wanted her to be his campaign manager. Her touch was seen over Trump’s third run for the White House, seemingly not wanting to rein in the former president on his rhetoric.
“It’s a much more pragmatic ‘let Trump be Trump’ philosophy: he says certain things to the Maga crowd, but he also offers an incredible tax policy to the billionaire crowd, and they like that. I don’t want to say she’s made a deal with the devil, but she knows what Trump’s about,” Peter Schorsch said.
Wiles is the first major name to fill a cabinet position for the upcoming Trump administration. Reports also suggest Sen. Marco Rubio is being floated as National Security Adviser and Robert Kennedy Jr. wanting a role in health.
