White House chief of staff Susie Wiles's stunning quotes in Vanity Fair could have been a fireable offense in many administrations. She described her boss, President Trump, as having an "alcoholic's personality" and referred to Vice President Vance as a decadelong conspiracy theorist. This wasn't anonymously sourced, he-said-she-said reporting. Wiles spoke with author Chris Whipple for 11 separate, on-the-record interviews.
However, Trump is sticking by her side. The president told the New York Post he isn't offended by what Wiles said. He even admitted he could be an alcoholic if he drank alcohol, describing himself as having an "addictive type personality."
Vance agreed that he has the tendency to consider conspiracy theories, though he quipped he only believes in ones "that are true." A source told Politico it was an "inside joke." He also praised Wiles, posting on social media that Trump and "the entire team love Susie because she is loyal and good at her job."
Secretary of State Marco Rubio slammed Whipple's reporting as well as the much-buzzed-about photos of Trump's team published with the profile as "deliberately manipulated."
And White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt argued that Whipple took the chief of staff's quotes "wildly out of context."
More about those photos: Portraits from Vanity Fair's photoshoot show every wrinkle and every blemish. There's a photo of 📸 Rubio standing in the corner looking at his shoes. There's an 📸 extreme close-up shot of Leavitt. And another 📸 extreme close-up of Vance. And here's 📸 one of Wiles.
The writer was asked about the White House criticism of his reporting: Whipple told CNN's Anderson Cooper that he recorded every one of the 11 "in-depth interviews" with Wiles over the course of the year. "Everything is on tape." 💻 Watch Whipple on CNN
For what it's worth: CNN's Brian Stelter noted that he wrote for Vanity Fair for a couple of years. He explained "the fact-checking process is INTENSE. Editors and fact-checkers probe your sourcing, your framing, your quotes. Thus Susie Wiles knew this story was coming and knew the quotes were legit. She can object to 'context' but not quotes."
What to know about Chris Whipple — he really knows chiefs of staff: Stelter also explained: "Why did Susie Wiles talk? The answer is in who she talked with: Chris Whipple, who literally wrote the book on how chiefs of staff define presidencies. Whipple knows all the former chiefs. He's a human encyclopedia on this subject."
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