WASHINGTON (AP) — Susie Wiles, President Donald Trump’s understated but influential chief of staff, criticized Attorney General Pam Bondi’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case and broadly defended the president’s aggressive second administration in a series of interviews published Tuesday in Vanity Fair.
Wiles told the magazine in a wide-ranging, revealing series of conversations that she underestimated the scandal involving Epstein, the disgraced financier, but sharply criticized how Bondi managed the case and the public’s expectations.
After the story was published, Wiles disparaged it as a “disingenuously framed hit piece on me and the finest President, White House staff, and Cabinet in history.”
“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 in a social media post. “I assume, after reading it, that this was done to paint an overwhelmingly chaotic and negative narrative about the President and our team.”
Wiles did not deny the comments that were attributed to her.
She also mentioned that Trump maintains a vision of increasing military strength against Venezuela as a key strategy, saying, “He wants to keep on blowing boats up until Maduro cries uncle.”
Wiles pointed out that this approach contradicts the administration's stated purpose of drug enforcement, hinting at deeper political motives behind the actions.
With a powerful role in Trump’s 2024 campaign, Wiles's perspective sheds light on the administration’s inner workings and its navigation through controversies surrounding Epstein, policy priorities, and the looming 2026 elections. Her comments reflect a mix of defense for Trump’s conduct and acknowledgment of the challenges posed by various political pressures.
