President Donald Trump’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles, delivered a series of unusually candid and at times unflattering assessments of the president, his second-term agenda and some of his closest allies in a series of wide-ranging interviews with Vanity Fair.
Across more than ten interviews, Wiles spoke about working for Trump, saying the president “has an alcoholic’s personality,” despite being known as a teetotaler. Wiles said Trump governs with “a view that there’s nothing he can’t do. Nothing, zero, nothing.”
“High-functioning alcoholics or alcoholics in general, their personalities are exaggerated when they drink,” she said. “And so I’m a little bit of an expert in big personalities.” The article notes she grew up with an alcoholic father – the legendary sportscaster Pat Summerall.
In the interviews, Wiles notably admitted there “may be an element of” political retribution in the prosecutions against his political opponents.
“I mean, people could think it does look vindictive,” she said in response to a question about the prosecution of former FBI Director James Comey. “I can’t tell you why you shouldn’t think that.”
“I don’t think he wakes up thinking about retribution. But when there’s an opportunity, he will go for it,” she added.
Wiles said she tried to persuade Trump to end his “score settling” within the first 90 days of his second term. That effort failed, she acknowledged, as his push for prosecutions continued, driven in part by the president’s desire for retribution.
Credit: cnn.com
