Knives out for Susie Wiles after Vanity Fair calamity… as insiders reveal full-blown MAGA meltdown: ‘She might have lost one of her nine lives’
She’s known as the Ice Maiden, with her penetrating stare that sends shivers down the spines of staffers and journalists alike.
But Susie Wiles appears to have made a dramatic miscalculation, and been hung out to dry by a reporter she gave unfettered access to.
The White House chief of staff opened the doors to Vanity Fair’s Chris Whipple, handing him direct lines to Donald Trump’s closest allies and friends.
Then, this week, the magazine dropped their story, throwing stars such as JD Vance, Karoline Leavitt and even the president under the bus.
The article sent shockwaves through DC and painted Wiles as the ‘the only adult in the room’, while tarnishing the reputation of all other senior politicians.
Wiles quickly hit back on social media, but the damage was done – and now insiders at the White House suggest her future could be in doubt.
The bombshell exposé, titled ‘Susie Wiles Says It All,’ took place over the course of months, likely starting as a soft day-in-the-life story.
Notably, Wiles was quoted describing Trump as having an ‘alcoholic’s personality’—despite his well-known abstinence from drinking.
But even for the woman credited with masterminding Trump’s campaign, there may be a limit to how much candor the president will tolerate
She’s known as the Ice Maiden, with her penetrating stare that sends shivers down the spines of staffers and journalists alike. But Susie Wiles appears to have made a dramatic miscalculation, and been hung out to dry by a reporter she gave unfettered access to
‘I heard they were joking around during the Vanity Fair photoshoot… saying, oh, one of us will get fired for this… and then JD was kind of like, well, I have the best job security out of all of us,’ a source close to the administration and Wiles told the Daily Mail
But Wiles didn’t stop there. She acknowledged VP-elect JD Vance had been ‘a conspiracy theorist for a decade’ — dismissing his born-again MAGA conversion as ‘sort of political.’
Then came perhaps the toughest twist of the knife: Her savaging of Attorney General Pam Bondi’s handling of the Epstein files, mocking her overhyped spring release as ‘binders full of nothingness.’
The question stands – for an administration that is notoriously reluctant to give access to certain outlets and creates ‘media offenders’ tracking lists – how and why did they allow this damaging piece to bloom?
According to an insider with ties to the White House, the key players knew they were playing with fire.
‘I heard they were joking around during the Vanity Fair photoshoot… saying, oh, one of us will get fired for this… and then JD was kind of like, well, I have the best job security out of all of us,’ a source close to the administration and Wiles told the Daily Mail.
A second White House source confirmed they were aware of the same exchange involving Vance.
As the firestorm burned through the media ecosphere on Tuesday, Vance took a veiled shot at Wiles publicly: ‘I hope that the lesson is we should be giving fewer interviews to mainstream media outlets.’
‘I think this just proves, the media is not your friend,’ two sources close to the administration told the Daily Mail separately.
Then came perhaps the toughest twist of the knife: Her savaging of Attorney General Pam Bondi’s handling of the Epstein files, mocking her overhyped spring release as ‘binders full of nothingness’
Then, this week, the magazine dropped their story, throwing stars such as JD Vance, Karoline Leavittand even the president under the bus
The first source, someone who has spent significant time with Wiles, suggested the feature was unnecessary and ‘came off tone deaf,’ particularly since the base ‘truly doesn’t look at Vanity Fair with any fanfare.’
So how did Chris Whipple get such unprecedented access to the ‘Ice Maiden’ of Mar–a–Lago?
The insider close to the administration says it began as a softer profile before morphing into the headline–grabbing spread that involved a decent amount of cabinet members modeling for the cameras.
‘Chris Whipple likely started by establishing a relationship to cover ‘a day in the life of Susie Wiles’ for a book and then later introduced the idea of the spread and photos to the inner circle,’ the source said. ‘And it worked.’
A second source close to the administration tells the Daily Mail the White House is still surprised Wiles got so many cabinet members to agree to be photographed.
The result, the source says, was a piece that portrayed Wiles as ‘the only adult in the room.’
Insiders who know Wiles insist this was no slip of the tongue.
‘I know that she knows how to speak to reporters. I know that nothing she says is on accident,’ the source added, suggesting Wiles’ interview was intentional, perhaps to place Cabinet officials on notice.
In a bizarre twist of roles, Trump has been the one calming the waters in the wake of the article.
‘If anything, you know, the last Trump administration, I would say the president was the gasoline on a lot of these fires. Yeah, now he’s kind of like, putting them out,’ the source said.
But even for the woman credited with masterminding Trump’s campaign, there may be a limit to how much candor the president will tolerate.
As the source close to the administration ominously concluded to Daily Mail, ‘Susie Wiles has nine lives. Now she might have eight.’
