Trump's Top Aide Acknowledges 'Score Settling' Behind Prosecutions - NYT

[In It to Win It]

nyt - gift link

President Trump’s chief of staff said she tried to get him to end his “score settling” against political enemies after 90 days in office, but acknowledged that the administration’s still ongoing push for prosecutions has been fueled in part by the president’s desire for retribution.

Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff, told an interviewer that she forged a “loose agreement” with Mr. Trump to stop focusing after three months on punishing antagonists, an effort that evidently did not succeed. While she insisted that Mr. Trump is not constantly thinking about retribution, she said that “when there’s an opportunity, he will go for it.”

Ms. Wiles made the comments in a series of extraordinarily unguarded interviews over the first year of Mr. Trump’s second term with the author Chris Whipple that are being published Tuesday by Vanity Fair. Not only did she confirm that Mr. Trump is using criminal prosecution to retaliate against adversaries, she also acknowledged that he was not telling the truth when he accused former President Bill Clinton of visiting the private island of the sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein.

Over the course of 11 interviews, Ms. Wiles offered pungent assessments of the president and his team: Mr. Trump “has an alcoholic’s personality.” Vice President JD Vance has “been a conspiracy theorist for a decade” and his conversion from Trump critic to ally was based not on principle but was “sort of political” because he was running for Senate. Elon Musk is “an avowed ketamine” user and “an odd, odd duck,” whose actions were not always “rational” and left her “aghast.” Russell T. Vought, the budget director, is “a right-wing absolute zealot.” And Attorney General Pam Bondi “completely whiffed” in handling the Epstein files.

Susie Wiles tells Vanity Fair Trump “has an alcoholic’s personality.” Vance’s conversion from Never Trumper has been “sort of political” and the VP has been “a conspiracy theorist for a decade.” Russell Vought is “a right-wing absolute zealot.”

— John Hudson (@johnphudson.bsky.social) 2025-12-16T12:16:51.143Z

[Scrivener7]

1. Interesting side note in the article: Fuckhead's own chief of staff says there's no evidence against Clinton

in the Epstein files. His own chief of staff says fuckhead has been lying about Clinton being implicated for a decade.

Every accusation is a confession.

[demmiblue]

2. Both parts of the Vanity Fair article:

Susie Wiles, JD Vance, and the “Junkyard Dogs”: The White House Chief of Staff On Trump’s Second Term (Part 1 of 2)

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/trump-susie-wiles-interview-exclusive-part-1

Susie Wiles Talks Epstein Files, Pete Hegseth’s War Tactics, Retribution, and More (Part 2 of 2)

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/trump-susie-wiles-interview-exclusive-part-2


Give me a break:

What about the birthday greeting featuring a sketch of a nude woman, which, according to The Wall Street Journal, bore Trump’s name and was sent to Epstein for his 50th birthday? “That letter is not his,” Wiles said. “And nothing about it rings true to me, nor does it to people that have known the president a lot longer than I have. I can’t explain The Wall Street Journal, but we’re going to get some discovery because we sued them. So we’re going to find out.” Trump’s lawyers filed a $20 billion defamation lawsuit against Dow Jones & Company, publisher of The Wall Street Journal, which the defendants have asked a federal judge in Florida to dismiss.

[Prairie Gates]

3. Why is Sec State in that picture? Is the Secretary of State a White House flunky?

Jesus, they're clueless.

[malaise]

4. Bye bye Susie

Donvict and Shady Vance are coming for you now😀

[Raven123]

5. She makes no sense.

First she says he was on a retribution tour and then this:

Reached for comment on Monday evening, Ms. Wiles played down Mr. Trump’s personal motivations in the actions against his enemies. “It’s not that he thinks they wronged him, although they did,” she told The New York Times. “He thinks that they wronged, and they should not be able to do to somebody else what they did to him and the way that you could cure that, at least potentially, is to expose what was done.”

Sounds like Susie had second thoughts on outing Trump. Not trustworthy. There is an ulterior motive, but I am not sure what it is. If she is trying to salvage her own reputation, this won’t do it. She openly backs his policies of gets “on board.”

[dalton99a]

6. Kick

https://archive.ph/QYa00