Donald Trump picks Susie Wiles to be chief of staff

The position does not require Senate confirmation.

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 2020 Trump campaign to fire her in 2019. But her departure was brief — Wiles was brought back shortly thereafter to lead his campaign in Florida.

After Trump hit a political low in 2021 — roundly condemned for enabling the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol building and ceding the White House to President Joe Biden, he hired Wiles to help guide his unlikely comeback.

Over the years Wiles — a soft-spoken grandmother but sharp political operator — has gained the trust and respect of Trump and his family, and the loyalty of his other aides. And she has proven she knows how to navigate the former president’s whims and mercurial personality.

In Trump’s third bid for the White House, Wiles succeeded at minimizing infighting, leaking and other types of drama that characterized both of Trump’s previous campaigns and his tenure in the White House.

Chris LaCivita, co-manager of Trump’s campaign, described Wiles as “loyal and honest as the day is long, who conducts herself with a large degree of humility. All characteristics that that define a good leader, a great leader.”

“She never hesitated about talking to him about the tough things, or assembling the right people to talk to him about the right things,” LaCivita added.

Wiles is expected to continue running a tight ship in the White House. That will require her to navigate the competing factions already emerging in current Trump world — with new and famous outside influences like Elon Musk and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. vying for power with other longtime D.C. Republican hands.

As rumors swirled around who Trump might select as chief of staff, aides on the Trump campaign were unanimous that they felt Wiles would be the perfect fit, if she wanted the job. Prominent MAGA voices publicly endorsed her for the job earlier Thursday, including Charlie Kirk of Turning Point USA and Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.).

Trump’s announcement comes after former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy — who was also in the running for the job — said in an interview on CBS that he doesn’t want a job in the Trump administration, preferring to help from the outside. Former Trump White House official Brooke Rollins was also in the running, after running the America First Policy Institute the last couple years.

Historically the first appointee named by the president-elect, the chief of staff is charged with overseeing all policy and day-to-day White House affairs. In his first term, Trump burned through four chiefs of staff — former Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus, Gen. John Kelly, former South Carolina Rep. Mick Mulvaney and former North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows — who bore the brunt of the infighting and turbulence that defined his tenure.

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 the Reagan administration — at the Labor Department and then as a White House as a scheduler — and on Capitol Hill working for the late Rep. Jack Kemp (R-N.Y).

Wiles decamped Washington for Florida, where she spent years running a public affairs firm, gaining a reputation as a top political consultant in the state. She successfully ran Rick Scott’s longshot bid for governor in 2010, and went on to work for the presidential bids of Jon Huntsman, Jr. and later, Mitt Romney in 2012.

While Wiles is the daughter of famed NFL sportscaster Pat Summerall, she likes to avoid the spotlight herself.

At Trump’s victory speech on Wednesday morning in West Palm Beach, Trump recognized Susie as “Ice Baby” and invited her to make remarks. She declined.