President Donald Trump has offered an unusual defense of his White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles after she made a series of explosive revelations about his administration in a magazine profile, admitting he never actually read the article that sparked the controversy.
The 79-year-old president told the New York Post on Monday, Dec. 16, 2025, that he was unbothered by Wiles’ observation that he has “an alcoholic’s personality,” a characterization that appeared in a Vanity Fair profile published that same day. Trump not only defended his chief of staff as “fantastic” but agreed with her assessment.
“No, she meant that I’m—you see, I don’t drink alcohol,” Trump explained. “So everybody knows that—but I’ve often said that if I did, I’d have a very good chance of being an alcoholic. I have said that many times about myself, I do. It’s a very possessive personality.”
The president’s response came despite admitting he had not read the Vanity Fair article, which was based on 11 separate interviews Wiles conducted with writer Chris Whipple over the course of Trump’s first year back in office. The 68-year-old Wiles, who serves as the first woman to hold the powerful position of White House chief of staff, spoke candidly about various aspects of the administration’s inner workings.
In the profile, Wiles described Trump as someone who “operates with a view that there’s nothing he can’t do.” She explained to Vanity Fair that high-functioning alcoholics have exaggerated personalities, noting she considers herself “a little bit of an expert in big personalities.” Her father, Pat Summerall, was an alcoholic, providing personal context for her observations.
Trump dismissed concerns about the article during his interview with the Post, praising Wiles while attacking the publication and its author. “I think from what I hear, the facts were wrong, and it was a very misguided interviewer, purposely misguided,” he said, characterizing Whipple as having done “a couple of very short interviews” despite the extensive 11-interview series conducted throughout the year.
The Vanity Fair profile contained numerous other revealing comments from Wiles about key administration figures. She criticized Vice President JD Vance, calling him a conspiracy theorist, and took aim at Elon Musk, criticizing his decision to shut down USAID. Wiles also mentioned that Musk uses ketamine.
Regarding Attorney General Pam Bondi, Wiles criticized her handling of the Epstein files release. She stated that Trump appears in the files, though she characterized him as a younger “playboy” at the time. The chief of staff also revealed that Trump’s “score-settling” revenge campaign against political opponents was originally planned to end after 90 days.
In one particularly alarming disclosure, Wiles said Trump plans to blow up Venezuelan drug boats until that country’s leader “cries uncle.” She also discussed what she called a failed effort to indict New York Attorney General Letitia James on fraud charges.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, 28, rushed to defend Wiles during a Fox News appearance on Monday afternoon, calling the article a “disingenuously framed hit piece.” She praised her boss as “the best chief of staff in our nation’s history, working for the greatest president in our nation’s history.”
Wiles herself attempted damage control, posting on social media that significant context was disregarded in the article and claiming much of what she and others said about Trump and the team was left out. She called it a “hit piece” designed to paint a chaotic and negative narrative.
Several administration officials publicly rallied behind Wiles on Monday, including some she had criticized in the interviews. Both Vance and Bondi expressed their support for the chief of staff, with Bondi describing her as someone who “fights every day to advance President Trump’s agenda.”
Former Department of Homeland Security chief of staff Miles Taylor offered a different perspective, suggesting the interviews revealed administration officials are “totally desperate” for media attention. He characterized Wiles’ comments as “unintended confessions of criminal conspiracy,” saying she was essentially “admitting to the administration’s lawlessness.”
Trump commentator Scott Jennings downplayed the significance of the revelations during a CNN appearance, suggesting the biggest scandal was actually the unflattering photographs used in the magazine spread rather than the substance of Wiles’ comments. He argued that having differences of opinion within an administration is “perfectly fine” and that “the only person’s opinion here who really matters is the president’s.”
Despite the controversy, Trump maintained his support for Wiles throughout the ordeal, telling the Post she has done a “fantastic job” and that he loves working with her. The president’s willingness to agree with her characterization of his personality while simultaneously dismissing the article as flawed underscores the unusual nature of his defense strategy.