Trump's Own Chief of Staff: He Has "An Alcoholic's Personality," Vance Is a "Conspiracy Theorist"
Chief of Staff Susie Wiles told Vanity Fair over 11 interviews that Trump has "an alcoholic's personality," Musk is "an avowed ketamine user" who sleeps in a sleeping bag at the White House, Vance is a "conspiracy theorist," and prosecutions of enemies "may" be retribution.
White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles — the first woman to hold the position and Trump's most trusted aide — sat for 11 interviews with Vanity Fair writer Chris Whipple over the course of a year. The resulting two-part profile, published December 16, 2025, was a bombshell.
What Trump's own chief of staff said on the record:
- On Trump: He has "an alcoholic's personality" and "operates with a view that there's nothing he can't do." Wiles compared him to her father, sportscaster Pat Summerall, who suffered from alcoholism. (Trump does not drink.)
- On Elon Musk: "He's an avowed ketamine user. And he sleeps in a sleeping bag in the EOB in the daytime. And he's an odd, odd duck." (Wiles later denied making the ketamine statement.)
- On JD Vance: Referred to the Vice President as a "conspiracy theorist."
- On retribution: Acknowledged the prosecutions of Comey, Letitia James, and others "may have an element of" retribution and that "people could think it does look vindictive."
- On the Epstein files: Criticized AG Pam Bondi's handling of the release.
The White House scrambled to contain the damage. Wiles called the profile "a disingenuously framed hit piece" painting "an overwhelmingly chaotic and negative narrative." But the quotes were on the record, from 11 separate interviews she voluntarily gave over a year.
Trump publicly defended Wiles — "She's doing a great job" — but the profile confirmed what critics had said all along: the inner circle knows exactly who Trump is. They describe him the way the archive describes him. The difference is they say it in private to journalists and then call it a "hit piece" when it's published.