Donald Trump picks ‘universally admired’ Republican strategist Susie Wiles as White House chief of staff. What to know

Donald Trump has announced that his campaign manager, Susie Wiles, will be named his White House chief of staff. “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 obtained by USA TODAY.

“Susie is tough, smart, innovative, and is universally admired and respected. Susie will continue to work tirelessly to Make America Great Again. It is a well deserved honor to have Susie as the first-ever female Chief of Staff in United States history. I have no doubt that she will make our country proud,” he added.

The chief of staff post is considered the second-most-important office in the West Wing. A chief of staff serves as the president’s confidant, and even helps execute the president’s agenda. They are also responsible for balancing competing political and policy priorities.

The chief of staff is “absolutely critical to an effective White House”, said Chris Whipple, whose book, The Gatekeepers, talks about how a chief of staff shapes a presidency. “At the end of the day the most important thing is telling the president what he doesn’t want to hear.”

“On the plus side, she’s shown that she can manage Trump, that she works with him and can sometimes tell him hard truths, and that’s really important,” Whipple said of Wiles, as reported by The Guardian. “On the minus side, she really has no White House experience and hasn’t really worked in Washington in 40 years. And that’s a real disadvantage.”

Who is Susie Wiles?

Wiles, a longtime Florida-based Republican strategist, ran Trump’s campaigns in the state in 2016 and 2020. She also ran Rick Scott’s 2010 campaign for Florida governor, and for a brief period, served as the manager of the former Utah governor Jon Huntsman’s 2012 presidential campaign.

Wiles is the daughter of famous longtime football broadcaster Pat Summerall. In her early political career, she worked for New York Rep. Jack Kemp and both in the Reagan campaign and administration. She served as a chief of staff to John Delaney in the 1990s, who was serving as mayor of Jacksonville at the time. She also worked for US Representative Tillie Fowler. Wiles also advised the mayor of Jacksonville, John Peyton, from 2004 to 2009.

Wiles was previously married to Lenny Wiles, a fellow Republican political consultant. They divorced in 2017.

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