Susie Wiles reflects on Trump assassination attempt, says she thought he was dead at first
White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles reflected on the July 2024 assassination attempt against President Trump on Wednesday and said she thought he was dead at first.
Following the publication of her two-part Vanity Fair profile on Tuesday, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles promptly responded, slamming the profile as a "disingenuously framed hit piece" against herself and the Trump administration.
Wiles took to X on Tuesday to condemn the editing of the articles, claiming that "significant context was disregarded" and that much of what she and others said about President Donald Trump and his team was "left out of the story."
"The article published early this morning is a disingenuously framed hit piece on me and the finest President, White House staff, and Cabinet in history," she wrote. "Significant context was disregarded and much of what I, and others, said about the team and the President was left out of the story. I assume, after reading it, that this was done to paint an overwhelmingly chaotic and negative narrative about the President and our team."
She continued: "The truth is the Trump White House has already accomplished more in eleven months than any other President has accomplished in eight years and that is due to the unmatched leadership and vision of President Trump, for whom I have been honored to work for the better part of a decade."
Wiles wrapped up her statement by asserting that "none of this will stop our relentless pursuit of Making America Great Again!"
Condé Nast, the parent company of Vanity Fair, did not immediately return Fox News Digital's request for comment.
The two-part Vanity Fair profile was based on months of exclusive, on-the-record conversations with Wiles, during which she was portrayed as unusually candid about the president and members of his cabinet, given her reputation for running a tight ship.
Susie Wiles, White House chief of staff, on the South Lawn of the White House before boarding Marine One in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025. (Francis Chung/Politico/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Wiles described Vice President JD Vance's switch from viewing Trump as "Hitler" to becoming his running mate as "sort of political," and said that he's been "a conspiracy theorist for a decade."
Trump's chief of staff told Vanity Fair that she views the president from the perspective of her late father, Pat Summerall, whom Wiles described as an absent parent and alcoholic. She said her experience with him had made her "a little bit of an expert in big personalities."
Wiles contended that Trump "has an alcoholic’s personality" due to the fact that he operates with the view that "there’s nothing he can’t do."
Another Trump cabinet member mentioned by Wiles was Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought, whom she called "a right-wing absolute zealot." Vought was a co-author of Project 2025 and has played a key role in the administration’s various civil service cuts.
President Donald Trump speaks to a gathering of top U.S. military commanders at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025, in Quantico, Va. (Evan Vucci/AP Photo)
When asked for comment on Wiles' profile in Vanity Fair, the White House responded to Fox News Digital's request with the following statement from press secretary Karoline Leavitt: "Chief of Staff Susie Wiles has helped President Trump achieve the most successful first 11 months in office of any President in American history. President Trump has no greater or more loyal advisor than Susie. The entire Administration is grateful for her steady leadership and united fully behind her."
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