Susie Wiles

Susie Wiles is an American political consultant who served as White House chief of staff (2025– 2026) in the second administration of Pres. Donald Trump. She is the first woman to hold the post. In November 2026, in the wake of significant Republican losses in the 2026 midterm elections, Trump announced that he was replacing Wiles with his top aide Stephen Miller. Wiles took a role with the Trump political team. Previously, she had worked on a number of Republican campaigns and was considered the architect of Trump’s reelection in 2024.

Early life

She was born Susan (“Susie”) Summerall, the only daughter of Katharine (née Jacobs) and Pat Summerall, the latter of whom was a kicker for the New York Giants and then a popular broadcaster. The family lived in Saddle River, New Jersey, and Susie Summerall later attended the University of Maryland, graduating in 1979 with a degree in English. In 1992 she played a key role in her father’s decision to seek treatment for his addiction to alcohol.

Political career

That same year Summerall began her career in politics as a staffer for Jack Kemp, a Republican U.S. representative and former NFL player. She then became involved in campaigns and helped presidential candidates Ronald Reagan and later George H.W. Bush win election in 1980 and 1988, respectively. About this time she married Lanny Wiles, a Republican consultant. The couple lived in Florida, and they had two daughters before divorcing in 2017.

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Beginning in the 1990s, Wiles focused on local politics in Jacksonville, Florida. She helped John Delaney (served 1995–2003) and then John Peyton (served 2003–11) be elected mayor of the city, and she served on their staffs. In Politico Magazine’s 2024 profile on Wiles, Peyton said she “is a brilliant tactician, an enabler, who helps her boss to set and achieve their priorities.” Wiles, who preferred to stay behind the scenes, also showed a knack for identifying up-and-coming politicians. In 2010 she helped run Rick Scott’s campaign for governor of Florida. A businessman who was considered a long-shot candidate, Scott was narrowly elected; he later became a U.S. senator. Wiles subsequently worked as a lobbyist at Ballard Partners and then at Mercury Public Affairs.

Trump campaigns

In 2016 Wiles backed another political outsider when she agreed to cochair the Florida operations for Donald Trump, a candidate in that year’s presidential election. He carried Florida and was the surprise winner in the general election, defeating Hillary Clinton. In 2018 Wiles was credited with turning around Ron DeSantis’s struggling gubernatorial bid in Florida. After DeSantis became governor, however, he broke ties with her over allegations that she leaked information and was involved in influence peddling; Wiles denied any wrongdoing. In 2020 Trump again selected her to manage his campaign in Florida, and he won the state but lost the election to Joe Biden.

After leaving the White House in 2021, Trump hired Wiles to serve as CEO of Save America, his political action committee (PAC). The following year Trump announced that he would seek another term as president, and Wiles was named cochair (with Chris LaCivita) of his national campaign. Trump defeated a number of Republican candidates, including DeSantis, to claim the party’s nomination. He then beat Vice Pres. Kamala Harris to win the 2024 election. Shortly thereafter Trump named Wiles as chief of staff in his upcoming administration. She took office on January 20, 2025.

Chief of staff

Wiles largely maintained a low public profile. However, in February 2025 she was included in a lawsuit filed by the AP after the Trump administration restricted the news agency’s access over its refusal to use Gulf of America instead of the Gulf of Mexico. That month she was also credited with helping negotiate a prisoner swap with Russia.

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In December 2025 Wiles made headlines for a Vanity Fair article based on a series of candid interviews with writer Chris Whipple. In the piece she was quoted as saying that Trump had “an alcoholic’s personality” and that he “operates [with] a view that there’s nothing he can’t do. Nothing, zero, nothing.” When addressing claims that the president was targeting political enemies, she stated that in some instances it “may look like retribution. And there may be an element of that from time to time. Who would blame him? Not me.” Wiles called the article “a disingenuously framed hit piece on me and the finest President, White House staff, and Cabinet in history.” She also claimed that her comments had been taken out of context.

Personal life and health

In 1984 she married Lanny Wiles, a Republican consultant. The couple settled in Florida, where they raised two daughters—Katie Wiles and Caroline Wiles—before divorcing in 2017.

In March 2026 Trump announced that Susie Wiles had been diagnosed with breast cancer. In a post on Truth Social, he wrote that “her prognosis is excellent” and that she would continue to serve as chief of staff while undergoing treatment.