After she helped engineer Donald Trump’s improbable and sweeping victory in the presidential race, Susie Wiles, the president-elect’s unassuming co-campaign chief, is seen as the front-runner to become his White House chief of staff, according to six sources familiar with discussions inside the campaign.
In a world riven by rivalries, advisers credit Wiles’ ability to gain Trump’s respect and corral big personalities. If she is chosen, Wiles would become the first female White House chief of staff in history.
“She has commanded a ton of respect amongst the staff, as well as loyalty. She doesn’t play games. And she means what she says: On the campaign, she said we are checking egos at the door and held everyone to it,” said a campaign official, who, like others in this article, was granted anonymity to speak candidly or because they were not authorized to speak on the record. “The team of rivals concept did not apply here.”
"Susie is as good as they get," a second Trump campaign official said. "She ran a great campaign and has the respect of all — including Democrats who recognize her talent. She'd make for a great chief of staff and would serve at the president's pleasure. After all, it is his White House."
A third Trump campaign official said that Wiles is already playing the de facto chief of staff role and that staffers widely want her to get the job. A large staff meeting was taking place at the campaign headquarters on Thursday, and Wiles was to lead it.
The sense among advisers is that if Trump makes a strong appeal to Wiles, she would take the job — and it is widely hoped she will.
“If she wants it, it’s hers,” said an adviser familiar with the discussions. “Her standing with Trump and what she just helped pull off [winning by huge margins], makes it an easy choice if she wants it."
Another Trump adviser said the job belongs to Wiles if she wants it. She did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“If she really wants it, I’m not sure how competitive this would be,” said the adviser familiar with the discussions.
Trump is famously superstitious and has kept a distance from the planning for a future administration that began in the final months of his campaign. But the planning is now beginning in earnest, and the pick of who will lead his operation will be among the most critical as he hopes to enact a sweeping agenda.
In a statement Wednesday, Trump's transition team said his victory had "delivered a mandate" for his agenda "that puts the working men and women of our nation first."
"As he chooses the best people to join his team and best policies to pursue, his transition team will ensure the implementation of President Trump's common sense agenda starting on Day 1," said the two advisers tapped to lead his transition, Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick, and Linda McMahon, a business executive who was a Cabinet member during the first Trump administration.
Wiles, the daughter of famed American football player and sportscaster Pat Summerall, led the staff through attempted assassinations, a change at the top of the Democratic ticket and slumps in the polls.
“She would be everybody’s No. 1 pick, but it’s his decision,” the first campaign official said.
The 2024 campaign was the first time Trump has not changed his core campaign leadership team throughout a race, a dynamic that even he alluded to when he spoke to reporters Tuesday as he name-checked Wiles, who helped secure his victory in once-purple Florida in 2016.
“Some people said it’s the best-run campaign they’ve ever seen, but in order to make that stick, you have to win,” Trump said as he cast his ballot. “My team … many of them are the same players— as you know, Susie.”
Praising Wiles in his victory speech Tuesday, Trump shared her nickname and alluded to her essential work behind the scenes: "We call her the ice maiden. Susie likes to stay in the background — she’s not in the background.”
Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., said: “I think a lot of the president’s closest allies really see the value that their partnership has created. They complement each other perfectly.”
Trump's transition leaders are some of his long-standing friends and allies: Lutnick, who joined him often on the trail in the final weeks of his campaign — including on his return to Butler, Pennsylvania — and McMahon.
Other names actively under consideration for the chief of staff role include those of Brooke Rollins, a former top White House aide to Trump who now leads the Trump-aligned America First Policy Institute, and former House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.
Notably, Rollins held a prime speaking slot at an appearance at Trump’s rally last month at Madison Square Garden in New York, where Lutnick spoke. In an appearance Thursday on Fox News, McCarthy said he would not be chief of staff and praised Wiles as a someone who “would do a great job.”
A campaign official said that while Rollins and McCarthy both have relationships with Trump, only one candidate has the professional respect and loyalty of the staff.
“And that’s Susie,” the person added.
