Members of President Donald Trump’s inner circle are scrambling to position themselves to succeed White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, believing she could step down or be pushed out after the midterms, The Washington Post reported.
Some in the West Wing believe Wiles has fallen out of favor with the president after clashing with him over policy and personnel decisions, setting off a race for power around Trump.
Aides who “kept clashes muted” through Trump’s second term have begun “jostling more openly for power” as they brace for widespread midterm losses and internal upheaval, the Post reported, citing interviews with 20 staffers, advisers and people close to the president.
A handful of aides, including Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, top housing official Bill Pulte and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, have begun angling for the job should it open up, according to the paper. One Trump ally described the past week in the White House as “the new Wild Wild West.”
Wiles has given no indication to aides or allies that she plans to leave, the Post said. It noted that high-level White House staffers “frequently cycle out after 18 months to two years,” and that Trump went through four chiefs of staff, including an acting one, during his first term.
The jockeying began in earnest last week, the Post reported, after Trump “reached out to Katie Zacharia about becoming press secretary without consulting Wiles,” according to four people familiar with the decision. The move was seen internally as undermining Wiles and creating the impression of an unsettled center of power. The Daily Mail and Daily Beast reported that Wiles preferred CNN commentator Scott Jennings for the job.
Trump has also told allies he is frustrated that “no one is publicly defending him as vociferously as he would like 18 days before the midterms,” the Post reported. He has been phoning friends, aides and outside advisers because he appears worried “information is not reaching him,” according to an adviser who received one of the calls. He has also vented about the midterms and about his two outside political strategists, James Blair and Chris LaCivita, who are close allies of Wiles.
Politico Playbook reported Thursday that Trump has been asking allies about replacing Wiles. Trump called the report “TOTAL FAKE NEWS” and said in a statement: “Susie Wiles is my loyal and longest serving Chief of Staff — there is a reason for that.”
Many Trump aides and allies believe Republicans will lose the House, the Post reported, though the margin remains unclear. Advisers and strategists describe the Senate as a 50-50 proposition despite heavy spending by MAGA Inc. and the Senate Leadership Fund, and they acknowledge that typically red states, including Kansas and Texas, are in play.