President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday named his under-the-radar campaign manager, Susie Wiles, to be his White House chief of staff.
The move is the first major staffing decision Trump has made since winning Tuesday’s election.
“Susie is tough, smart, innovative and is universally admired and respected,” Trump wrote in a statement. “I have no doubt that she will make our country proud.”
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Trump also called both his 2016 and 2020 campaigns “successful,” even though Americans elected Joe Biden president in 2020.
CNN reported previously that Wiles wanted Trump to agree to some conditions before accepting the job: namely, she that she wanted to keep the riffraff out of the Oval Office, an unnamed source told the network.
“The clown car can’t come into the White House at will,” the source said. “And he agrees with her.”
Wiles will be the first woman to hold the crucial White House role.
The daughter of former NFL kicker and sportscaster Pat Summerall, Wiles worked as a scheduler on Ronald Reagan’s 1980 presidential campaign. She would go on to be chief of staff to the mayor of Jacksonville, Florida, in the 1990s, and adviser to another Jacksonville mayor, John Peyton, in the 2000s. After running Florida Sen. Rick Scott’s successful 2010 campaign, she ran the 2012 presidential bid for then-Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, who didn’t make it out of the primary.
Wiles’ direct work with Trump began in 2016 when she handled his Florida campaign. Two years later, she helped elect Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, though she said later that she regretted taking that job. In early 2021, Wiles was named CEO of Trump’s fundraising operation, Save America PAC.
Given her reputation, she will likely continue to maintain a low profile.
“Susie likes to stay in the background. She’s not in the background,” Trump said of Wiles during his victory speech Tuesday night as he called her to step forward. “The ‘ice baby.’ We call her the ‘ice baby.’”
Someone else who had rumored to be in contention, who Trump derisively nicknamed “my Kevin” said he would turn down a job offer for that role. “People all ask if I’m being chief of staff,” former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said this week on The Guy Benson Show. “No, I’m not going to be.”
The former Republican leader and fundraising juggernaut was booted from the speakership thanks to members of his own party with a strong allegiance to Trump. In the same interview, McCarthy said Wiles would be his pick.
“I think Susie Wiles would make a great chief of staff and should do the job,” he said. “And I’ll help her.”
Wiles’ selection was also praised by a number of figures in Trump’s orbit, like 2024 campaign co-chair Chris LaCivita and campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung.
JD Vance also predicted Wiles will be a “huge asset” as chief of staff, adding, “She’s also just a really good person.”
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