White House chief of staff Susie Wiles says in a revealing new interview that her boss, President Trump, has “an alcoholic’s personality” because he believes “there’s nothing he can’t do.”
Wiles, 68, made the comment to author Chris Whipple in one of 11 interviews during the first year of Trump’s second term. Excerpts from the interviews were published by Vanity Fair Tuesday.
The choice of words by Wiles is likely to raise eyebrows among longtime Trump followers. The president has repeatedly and proudly stated that he doesn’t drink alcohol, citing the example of his older brother Fred, who died in 1981 at the age of 42 from a heart attack brought on by excessive drinking.
In July, Wiles opened up to The Post’s Miranda Devine about helping her father — legendary NFL broadcaster Pat Summerall — through alcohol rehab in 1992.
“When my mom decided that he needed professional treatment, part of the prescription was for each of the children to write a letter, which he didn’t read until he got into, in his case, the Betty Ford Clinic,” recalled Wiles, the oldest of Summerall’s three kids.
“I said that sometimes I didn’t really want to share the same name, because he was doing so much that I didn’t respect,” she added. “I don’t remember the precise words, but that’s kind of what I said to him, and it got his attention, apparently.”
Summerall, who died in 2013, was able to kick his booze habit after a stint at the Betty Ford Clinic.
“Alcoholism does bad things to relationships, and so it was with my dad and me,” Wiles told Vanity Fair in the interview published Tuesday.
“Some clinical psychologist that knows one million times more than I do will dispute what I’m going to say. But high-functioning alcoholics or alcoholics in general, their personalities are exaggerated when they drink. And so I’m a little bit of an expert in big personalities.”
Wiles responded to the article in a statement on X Tuesday morning, calling it “a disingenuously framed hit piece on me and the finest President, White House staff, and Cabinet in history.
“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 went on.
“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.
“None of this will stop our relentless pursuit of Making America Great Again!”
