Overview
- Vanity Fair published a two-part profile built from 11 on-the-record interviews with Chief of Staff Susie Wiles that included blunt characterizations of senior figures, calling Trump as having an “alcoholic’s personality,” JD Vance a “conspiracy theorist,” Elon Musk an “avowed ketamine user,” and criticizing Pam Bondi and Russell Vought.
- Wiles denounced the profile as a “disingenuously framed hit piece,” arguing significant context was omitted, and Vanity Fair’s Chris Whipple told the New York Times he has audio of at least one disputed remark.
- Trump and senior officials publicly backed Wiles, with the press secretary, Vought, Bondi and Donald Trump Jr. praising her leadership, and Vance responding that he sometimes believes “conspiracy theories that are true.”
- The interviews also contained policy disclosures, including Wiles’ comments that Trump wants boat strikes to continue until Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro “cries uncle,” criticism of the USAID dismantling, and assertions that the Epstein files do not show Trump or Bill Clinton doing anything incriminating.
- Pro-Trump commentators and MAGA media figures blasted Wiles for granting repeated access to Vanity Fair, arguing the interviews produced damaging headlines and showed poor political judgment.