Vanity Fair (Lean Left bias) published a lengthy series of interviews with White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles on Tuesday, in which journalist Chris Whipple spoke with Wiles frequently over the past year.
In the interviews, Wiles, whom Whipple framed as the most pivotal member of Trump’s administration, dished candidly on many of the most notable events of President Trump’s second term so far.
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Over the course of roughly 10,000 words, the profile, which includes comments from several other White House sources, provides an insider's perspective on everything from the president’s mindset and personality quirks to intelligence reports the Oval Office has access to.
The interview includes so much information that its publication alone was big news. Unsurprisingly, outlets across the spectrum picked and chose different angles to highlight, showing bias in the process. A sampling of mainstream headlines is enough to see how:
From the Left
“Susie Wiles, White House chief of staff, criticizes Bondi and opines on Trump in Vanity Fair” - Associated Press (Left)
“Trump chief of staff Susie Wiles says president ‘has an alcoholic’s personality’ and much more in candid interviews” - CNN (Lean Left)
“White House scrambles to address Susie Wiles' explosive Vanity Fair interviews” - NBC News (Lean Left)
“Susie Wiles seems to criticize Bondi, Vance and talks Trump in Vanity Fair” - ABC News (Lean Left)
From the Center
“White House Chief of Staff Offers Candid Views in Vanity Fair Interview” - Wall Street Journal (Center)
“Trump's chief of staff disputes Vanity Fair story in which she criticises Vance and Musk” - BBC News (Center)
“Susie Wiles comes under the spotlight after Vanity Fair remarks” - The Hill (Center)
“In Vanity Fair interview, top Trump aide Wiles reveals White House tensions, points to missteps” - Reuters (Center)
From the Right
“Trump brushes off Wiles’ ‘alcoholic’s personality’ nick as allies torch Vanity Fair piece” - Fox News (Right)
“White House Does Damage Control After Susie Wiles Criticizes Trump, Top Officials in Candid Interviews” - National Review - News (Lean Right)
“Trump stands by chief of staff Susie Wiles after bombshell Vanity Fair interviews — admits he has ‘alcoholic’s personality’” - The New York Post (Lean Right)
“Susie Wiles fumes over 'hit piece' from Vanity Fair” - Just The News (Lean Right)
Outlets across the spectrum mostly highlighted several key storylines in their headlines. Among them were:
- Wiles said President Trump has an “alcoholic’s personality.”
- Wiles’ comments on Attorney General Pam Bondi, Vice President JD Vance, and Elon Musk.
- Wiles described the feature as a “hit piece.”
- Trump defended Wiles after the piece was published.
Note: Many mainstream publications ran multiple headlines on the story from different angles.
While media outlets picked individual aspects of Vanity Fair’s reporting to frame their coverage around, often displaying bias in their headlines, the profile itself offers much more context than these snapshots suggest.
The author, Chris Whipple, also showed bias – though not beyond the means of standard journalistic practice – in how he interlayed certain details around Wiles’ quotes. By carefully paraphrasing and including his own supporting context, Whipple paints a picture that is generally critical of the administration.
But beneath the flurry of biased headlines and Whipple’s editorial interjections, the profile contains significant new inside scoop regarding many of the year’s biggest mainstream media storylines. Wiles didn’t shy away from defending the administration for some things it’s taken a lot of media heat for, but she also didn’t shy away from criticizing some of its actions so far, either.
The Epstein Files
Wiles said that President Trump’s name is in the Epstein files and that there is no ‘client list,’ contrary to what Pam Bondi has previously said. She also said Trump was wrong about the extent of former President Bill Clinton’s relationship with Epstein and that Vice President JD Vance has been a “conspiracy theorist” for over a decade.
On the political “potency” of the scandal:
“Whether he was an American CIA asset, a Mossad asset, whether all these rich, important men went to that nasty island and did unforgivable things to young girls. I mean, I kind of knew it, but it’s never anything I paid a bit of attention to.”
On Bondi’s February release of files that contained little new information to conservative influencers:
“I think she completely whiffed on appreciating that that was the very targeted group that cared about this. First she gave them binders full of nothingness. And then she said that the witness list, or the client list, was on her desk. There is no client list, and it sure as hell wasn’t on her desk.”
On Trump’s name being in the files:
Wiles said she read “the Epstein file” and that Trump “is in the file.” She added, And we know he’s in the file. And he’s not in the file doing anything awful.” Wiles said that Trump “was on [Epstein’s] plane…he’s on the manifest. They were, you know, sort of young, single, whatever—I know it’s a passé word but sort of young, single playboys together.”
On media speculation that the FBI was tasked with redacting Trump’s name:
“I don’t know how many agents looked through things, but it was a lot. They were looking for 25 things, not one thing.”
On Trump’s claim that former President Bill Clinton visited Epstein’s island “supposedly 28 times” and whether the files included incriminating details on Clinton:
“There is no evidence.” She added, “The president was wrong about that. The people that really appreciated what a big deal this is are Kash [Patel] and [FBI deputy director] Dan Bongino. Because they lived in that world. And the vice president, who’s been a conspiracy theorist for a decade…. For years, Kash has been saying, ‘Got to release the files, got to release the files.’ And he’s been saying that with a view of what he thought was in these files that turns out not to be right.”
On the alleged birthday card The Wall Street Journal first claimed Epstein sent Trump:
“That letter is not his. And nothing about it rings true to me, nor does it to people that have known the president a lot longer than I have. I can’t explain The Wall Street Journal, but we’re going to get some discovery because we sued them. So we’re going to find out.”
On how much of a political liability the Epstein saga could be to the GOP:
“The people that are inordinately interested in Epstein are the new members of the Trump coalition, the people that I think about all the time—because I want to make sure that they are not Trump voters, they’re Republican voters. It’s the Joe Rogan listeners. It’s the people that are sort of new to our world. It’s not the MAGA base.”
‘Narcoterrorist’ Boat Strikes
Regarding the Trump administration’s ongoing campaign against what it claims are drug trafficking boats and the prospect of war with Venezuela, Wiles said the White House is confident in its process thus far and doesn’t need congressional approval yet.
On Trump’s Venezuela strategy:
“He wants to keep on blowing boats up until Maduro cries uncle. And people way smarter than me on that say that he will.”
On striking and killing alleged drug trafficking boats:
“The president believes in harsh penalties for drug dealers, as he’s said many, many times…. These are not fishing boats, as some would like to allege.”
She added that eliminating them saves American lives. “The president says 25,000. I don’t know what the number is. But he views those as lives saved, not people killed.”
Wiles also said, “This is a war on drugs. [It’s] unlike another one that we’ve seen. But that’s what this is.”
On needing congressional approval:
“Don’t need it yet… We’re very sure we know who we’re blowing up. One of the great untold stories of the US government is the talents of the CIA. And there may be an interest in going inside territorial waters, which we have permission [to do] because they’re skirting the coastline to avoid getting [caught].”
On a hot war with Venezuela:
“If he were to authorize some activity on land, then it’s war, then [we’d need] Congress. But Marco and JD, to some extent, are up on the Hill every day, briefing.”
Running For a Third Term
Wiles said that when Trump talks about running for a third term, he is only doing it to get a rise out of people. Author Chris Whipple and Wiles had the following exchange:
CW: “Will the president run for a third term?”
SW: “No. But he sure is having fun with it… [He knows it’s] driving people crazy.”
CW: “So that’s why he talks about it.”
SW: “Yeah, 100 percent.”
CW: “Would you say categorically no, and that the 22nd Amendment rules out [a third term]?”
SW: “I do. Yeah. And I’m not a lawyer, but based on my reading of it, it’s pretty unequivocal.”
CW: “And has he told you that in so many words?”
SW: “Yes. Oh, a couple times, yeah.”
Wiles added, “Sometimes he laments, ‘You know, gosh, I feel like we’re doing really well. I wish I could run again.’ And then he immediately says, ‘Not really. I will have served two terms and I will have gotten done what I need to get done, and it’s time to give somebody else a chance.’ So, you know, any given day, right? But he knows he can’t run again.”
Trump’s Russia and Ukraine Relations
Despite many media outlets having consistently framed Trump as having a chummy relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the past decade, Wiles offered a different account. She also said Trump’s read on the Ukraine conflict is different than that of the administration’s “experts.”
On Trump’s relationship with Putin:
“Watching it at a distance in [2018], I thought there was a real sort of friendship there, or at least an admiration. But on the phone calls that we’ve had with Putin, it’s been very mixed. Some of them have been friendly and some of them not.”
On Trump’s tense February Oval Office meeting with Zelenskyy:
“If we had it to do over. I wouldn’t have cameras, because it was going to end that way.”
Vanity Fair included its own summarization of some of what Wiles said, “Wiles claims the ugly spectacle was the culmination of churlish behind-the-scenes behavior by Zelenskyy and his entourage. It began with Zelenskyy failing to show up for a meeting with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent when he visited Kyiv to make a deal on mineral rights—and escalated.”
Wiles added, “It just was a bad sort of sentiment all the way around. And I wouldn’t say JD snapped, because he’s too controlled for that. But I think he’d just had enough.”
On Putin’s ambitions in Ukraine:
“The experts think that if he could get the rest of Donetsk, then he would be happy,” but privately, Wiles said, “Donald Trump thinks he wants the whole country.”
Trump’s Tariff Rollout
Wiles noted that a lot of Trump’s inner circle was divided regarding whether the US should levy steep tariffs on trading partners.
On the politics behind levying the tariffs:
“So much thinking out loud is what I would call it. There was a huge disagreement over whether [tariffs were] a good idea.”
Wiles said advisers were divided, but she told them they should unite behind the President: “I said, ‘This is where we’re going to end up. So figure out how you can work into what he’s already thinking.’ Well, they couldn’t get there.”
She added, “[Vance and I] told Donald Trump, ‘Hey, let’s not talk about tariffs today. Let’s wait until we have the team in complete unity and then we’ll do it.’”
On the effectiveness of the approach:
“It’s been more painful than I expected.”
The Administration’s Deportation Approach
Wiles said she thinks the US should “lean toward a double-check” in making final decisions on the deportations of migrants.
On the administration’s deportation approach:
“I will concede that we’ve got to look harder at our process for deportation… If somebody is a known gang member who has a criminal past, and you’re sure, and you can demonstrate it, it’s probably fine to send them to El Salvador or whatever. But if there is a question, I think our process has to lean toward a double-check.”
On the April deportation of two mothers and their American citizen children to Honduras:
“It could be an overzealous Border Patrol agent, I don’t know. I can’t understand how you make that mistake, but somebody did.”
Elon Musk and USAID Cuts
Wiles described Musk as an “odd, odd duck” and said she would have handled USAID cuts with a more reform-minded approach.
On Musk himself:
“He is a complete solo actor. The challenge with Elon is keeping up with him. He’s an avowed ketamine [user]. And he sleeps in a sleeping bag in the EOB [Executive Office Building] in the daytime. And he’s an odd, odd duck, as I think geniuses are. You know, it’s not helpful, but he is his own person.”
On Musk’s approach to USAID cuts:
“I was initially aghast. Because I think anybody that pays attention to government and has ever paid attention to USAID believed, as I did, that they do very good work.”
She added, “When Elon said, ‘We’re doing this,’ he was already into it. And that’s probably because he knew it would be horrifying to others. But he decided that it was a better approach to shut it down, fire everybody, shut them out, and then go rebuild. Not the way I would do it.”
Wiles also said, “Elon’s attitude is you have to get it done fast. If you’re an incrementalist, you just won’t get your rocket to the moon. And so with that attitude, you’re going to break some china. But no rational person could think the USAID process was a good one. Nobody.”
On Trump’s knowledge of USAID at the time:
“The president doesn’t know and never will. He doesn’t know the details of these smallish agencies.”
‘Signalgate’
On The Atlantic (Left) editor Jeffrey Goldberg being accidentally included in a group chat discussing the administration’s “war plans”:
“I’m not horrified by it. The burden’s on us to make sure that [national security] conversations are preserved. In this case, Jeff Goldberg did it for us.”
Beyond isolated media headlines, slant, and spin, there are plenty of direct quotes in Vanity Fair’s feature attributed to Wiles herself that provide readers with an inside perspective on much of how the administration has been thinking over the past year. When reading through a long interview feature of this sort, readers should keep in mind not only the publication’s bias, but AllSides’ 16 types of media bias as well, in order to better understand the subject being interviewed and relevant reporting within the piece.
Andy Gorel is a Social Media and News Editor at AllSides. He has a Center bias.
This piece was reviewed by Emily Allen, News Editor & Bias Analyst (Left) and Julie Mastrine, Director of Marketing and Media Bias Ratings (Lean Right).
