Donald Trump‘s under-the-radar campaign manager, Susie Wiles, has been tapped to be the former and future president’s White House chief of staff.
It was widely reported Thursday that Wiles, who is highly respected in Trump World, was the top contender for the role.
As one source familiar with Trump’s thinking told the Daily Beast: the job is hers if she wants it.
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CNN reported that Wiles was open to the job, but there are strings attached: She wants to keep the riff raff 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.”
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 advisor 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.
Wiles will be the first female White House chief of staff ever. And given her reputation, she would 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.’”
Trump called both his 2016 and 2020 campaigns “successful,” even though Americans elected Joe Biden president in 2020, an election that Trump never conceded. Instead, he invited his MAGA followers to travel to Washington on Jan. 6, 2021, when he ordered them to “fight like hell” at the Capitol, which they attacked and vandalized in an effort to stop lawmakers’ constitutional duty to certify the election results.
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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