"Musk is a destroyer, Vance is a conspiracy theorist"… Wiles' 'Vanity Fair bomb' [Sang-eun Lee's Washington Now]

U.S. President Donald Trump’s White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, whom he calls the 'Ice Princess,' has caused a stir in Washington after candidly revealing in an interview with the press that there has been considerable turmoil and conflict within the second Trump administration over the past year.

In the Vanity Fair interview published on the 16th (local time), Wiles pointed out that Vice President J D Vance is a "conspiracy theorist" and that his decision to support President Trump was for "political reasons," such as a run for the Senate. She also criticized Attorney General Pam Bondi for mishandling the files on sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, saying she was an incompetent figure.

○A government of one person

In the interview she confessed that, although she consistently offered the president a range of administrative advice, the president often did not follow it. Regarding the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot, she urged that the most violent rioters should not be pardoned, but President Trump went ahead with pardons. She said there were major disagreements within the administration even on key matters like tariff policy, and that she tried but failed to persuade him to "delay major tariff impositions." Still, Wiles emphasized that her role was to faithfully carry out the president's will.

She said staff had proposed limiting the prosecution parade aimed at removing opponents to just three months at the start of the administration to "prevent the real agenda from being disrupted," but President Trump did not stop. Wiles specifically admitted that the Justice Department's prosecution targeting New York Attorney General Letitia James "could be a retaliatory measure." James had won a civil suit related to President Trump's fraud charges, which initially forced the Trump side to pay 500 million dollars. The court later overturned the damages portion, but left the ruling intact.

The interview also revealed that the second Trump administration is heavily influenced by the president's impulsive remarks rather than following a consistent vision and strategy. Wiles explained that there is a monitor in her office to check the president's social media posts in real time.

○Musk a destroyer... Vance a conspiracy theorist

In emphasizing that she understands President Trump well, she described him as having "the personality of an alcoholic." Having grown up with an alcoholic father, she said she knows that such people "have personalities that become exaggerated when they drink," and that she is "somewhat of an expert on people with strong personalities."

A pragmatic bureaucrat, Wiles was extremely critical of Tesla CEO Elon Musk's operation of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). She called him a "destroyer," especially over tearing down the USAID organization that oversaw U.S. foreign aid, saying "that is not how I would have acted."

She added, "He is a really strange person," and suggested that the moment he posted some odd things on social media "seemed like it was when he had taken a small amount of ketamine." Musk has claimed he no longer uses ketamine, and Wiles' remark implied that claim was false.

Wiles was also very harsh about Attorney General Bondi. She said Bondi "totally failed to understand that there is a specific group (MAGA supporters) who genuinely worry about the Epstein issue." Bondi, Wiles said, publicly opened an empty file cabinet claiming witness lists or client lists were on her desk, but "such lists did not exist and were not on her desk." By speaking as if such lists existed, Bondi ultimately fueled suspicion about President Trump. Wiles also acknowledged that some of Trump's claims, such as that former President Bill Clinton visited Epstein's private island, were not true.

○SNS posts defending Wiles posted competitively

Wiles said the interview was not an impulsive decision or an attack on the Trump administration. According to Vanity Fair and The New York Times, the Trump administration had actively cooperated with Vanity Fair from the outset. Wiles was interviewed 11 times by writer Chris Whipple, and key figures including Vice President Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio also agreed to interviews. Senior White House figures, including Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, also took part in flashy photos.

However, after the interview exposed the administration's 'real face,' Wiles protested that the interview had been "maliciously planned."

When the interview was published, Trump administration officials lined up on social media to post praise for Wiles' loyalty, patriotism, and ability. Some posts contained nearly identical text copied and pasted. President Trump himself defended her, saying, instead of criticizing her description of him as an "alcoholic," "if I drank, I'd be addicted," thereby supporting her.

Whether intentional or not, through this interview Wiles confirmed the president's trust and, as a result, has tightened discipline in the White House. But she has clearly clashed with potential future Republican leadership figures such as Vice President Vance.

Washington = Correspondent Sang-eun Lee selee@hankyung.com