Susie Wiles

Announced as Trump’s pick for White House Chief of Staff

Susie Wiles is a longtime Republican political operative and consultant who has been serving as a senior advisor to Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign since April 2024. She has been described as “The Most Feared and Least Known Political Operative in America.” As Politico wrote, “Wiles is not just one of Trump’s senior advisers. She’s his most important adviser. She’s his de facto campaign manager. She has been in essence his chief of staff for the last more than three years. She’s one of the reasons Trump is the GOP’s presumptive nominee and Ron DeSantis is not.” Rep. Matt Gaetz told Politico: “Even as a friend of the president who speaks frequently with the president, sometimes I have to call Susie Wiles to get my way.”

She played key roles in Donald Trump’s presidential campaigns in Florida in 2016 and 2020.

In March 2021, Wiles was chosen to be CEO of Trump’s Save America PAC. In April 2021, Politico described Wiles as the “new honcho atop Trumpworld,” noting that she would wield authority over 2020 campaign manager Bill Stepien and key aide Justin R. Clark. In August 2022, she was described as effectively Trump’s “chief of staff.”

Wiles was reportedly shown a classified map by Trump during a meeting at his New Jersey golf club after he left office. She met with federal investigators multiple times as part of the special counsel’s probe into the handling of documents at Mar-a-Lago. Though not named in Jack Smith’s indictment of Trump, she has been identified by sources as the “representative of his political action committee” referenced in the indictment. The indictment details that Trump showed a classified map to a representative without security clearance and mentioned it should not be seen. Prosecutors have questioned Wiles about whether Trump showed her classified documents, including a map and documents related to Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley.

Wiles began her political career working for former Representative Jack Kemp in 1979 and later served in various capacities during the Reagan administration. Wiles has been instrumental in several political campaigns, particularly in Florida. For example, Wiles was credited with helping elect Rick Scott as Florida governor in 2010. In January 2011, Wiles was hired as campaign manager for former Governor of Utah Jon Huntsman Jr.’s presidential campaign. While on the Huntsman campaign, she and former Jacksonville Jaguars player Tony Boselli launched a Ponte Vedra Beach-based consulting firm.