Donald Trump picks Susie Wiles to be chief of staff
A veteran of Florida politics, Wiles directed Trump’s campaign to victory in the state in 2016.
President-elect Donald Trump has tapped his campaign senior adviser Susie Wiles as White House chief of staff.
Wiles, who amassed outsized influence as Trump’s de facto campaign manager, will be the first woman to ever hold the title of White House chief of staff. Many have credited the professionalization of the most recent Trump campaign to Wiles’ leadership.
“Susie Wiles just helped me achieve one of the greatest political victories in American history, and was an integral part of both my 2016 and 2020 successful campaigns,” Trump said in a statement. “Susie is tough, smart, innovative, and is universally admired and respected. Susie will continue to work tirelessly to Make America Great Again.
A veteran of Florida politics, Wiles directed Trump’s campaign to victory in the state in 2016. She also helped lead Ron DeSantis’ 2018 campaign for Florida governor, before a falling out that prompted the Florida governor to successfully lobby the Trump team to fire her. Wiles was brought back shortly thereafter for the 2020 campaign in Florida.
Despite having little experience in the nation’s capital, Wiles will become the White House’s envoy to the sprawling executive branch agencies and to Congress. She has not worked in Washington in decades, since her time in Ronald Reagan’s Labor Department, in Reagan’s White House as a scheduler and on Capitol Hill for the late Rep. Jack Kemp (R-N.Y).
The chief of staff, historically the first appointee named by the president-elect, is charged with overseeing all policy and day-to-day White House affairs. The last Trump White House saw a revolving door of chiefs of staff who ultimately bore the brunt of the infighting and turbulence that defined his tenure. Over the four years, Trump had four chiefs: former Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus, Gen. John Kelly, former South Carolina Rep. Mick Mulvaney and former North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows.
The chief of staff position does not require Senate confirmation.
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