Trump administration profile: Susie Wiles |
By Indy Scholtens President Donald Trump selected Susie Wiles to be his chief of staff on Nov. 7, 2024, just two days after being elected the nation’s 47th president. The decision did not come as a surprise, as Wiles had been a longtime advisor and managed the campaign that returned Trump to the Oval Office. Wiles is the first woman to serve as White House chief of staff – one of the most influential jobs in Washington. Who is she? Wiles, 67, has led an extensive career in politics and lobbying. She has worked on several local, state and national Republican campaigns, including Bush-Quayle in 1988, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ successful 2018 race and Trump’s 2016, 2020 and 2024 presidential campaigns. Wiles also worked in government, including stints as an aide to Rep. Jack Kemp (R-N.Y.), a scheduler for President Ronald Reagan and in Reagan’s Labor Department. Wiles worked as a lobbyist for Ballard Partners from 2011 to 2022 and Mercury Public Affairs from 2022 to 2024, representing clients ranging from the tobacco industry to mining projects. During Trump’s 2016 campaign, Wiles advanced from Florida campaign director to senior advisor. She then served as a senior advisor to DeSantis and was credited for saving his campaign. Wiles fell out of favor with DeSantis and he pushed Trump’s 2020 campaign to remove her from her advisory role, according to Politico. In 2021, Wiles made her return when she was named CEO of Trump’s Save America PAC, a leadership political action committee that served as Trump’s primary fundraising and political spending tool. She went on to serve as Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign manager. Follow the money |
- While Wiles was CEO of Save America PAC, donations increased from $31.5 million in 2019–2020, to $108.7 million in 2021-2022.
- Wiles has been a longtime contributor to the Republican Party. Her largest donation of $3,094 went to Trump in 2024. She also donated $2,700 to Matt Gaetz in 2019. She made both donations as an employee of Right Coast Strategies, a lobby firm she founded with Tony Boselli, according to Wiles’ LinkedIn page.
- While at Ballad Partners and Mercury Public Affairs, Wiles lobbied for foreign entities such as the People’s Democratic Party of Nigeria and the Venezuelan media company Globovision Tele Ca, Corp for which her firm received $450,000. She earned Ballard Partners and Mercury Public Affairs a combined total of $5.6 million through lobbying, according to government records.
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- The chief of staff is considered one of most influential positions within the administration, because of her proximity to the president and control of the White House executive office. Wiles’ extensive and recent career as lobbyist runs counter to Trump’s pledge eight years ago to “drain the swamp.”
- The New York Times reported just after the election that companies were scrambling “to sign lobbyists who could help navigate the incoming administration.” Wiles’ former lobbying firm, Ballad Partners (where Attorney General Pam Bondi was also registered as a lobbyist), brought in 33 new clients after the presidential elections. CEO Brian Ballard donated more than $250,000 of his own money to Trump’s joint fundraising committee and raised over $50 million for Trump-related committees.
- Both Wiles’ daughters have followed her path in the lobbying industry: Katie Wiles got promoted to lead the Jacksonville and Washington, D.C., offices of the firm Continental Strategy just a day after her mother was named chief of staff. One of its most prominent clients is a tobacco company Susie Wiles lobbied for: Swisher International, a subsidiary of its parent company Hay Island Holding, which paid Continental Strategy $135,000 in 2024 for lobbying. Between the third and fourth quarter of 2024, Continental Strategy brought in 13 new clients.
- Susie Wiles’ other daughter, Caroline Wiles, was promoted in January to vice president of federal affairs for the lobbying firm Rubin, Turnbull & Associates. The company brought in four new clients between the third and fourth quarters of 2024. Caroline was appointed as a White House staffer during the first Trump administration, but resigned a little over a month later when she failed an FBI background check.
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