President-elect Donald Trump has named Florida political strategist Susie Wiles as White House Chief of Staff.
She is the first female to serve in the role.
Who is Susie Wiles?
The daughter of NFL player and sportscaster Pat Summerall, Wiles worked in the Washington, D.C. office of Rep. Jack Kemp (R - NY) in the 1970s. She also worked on President Ronald Reagan’s campaign and was a scheduler at the White House, The Associated Press reported.
She worked for two Jacksonville Mayors, Rep. Tillie Flower and eventually helped Gov. Rick Scott and Gov. Ron DeSantis win their elections.
Wiles led Trump’s campaign in Florida in 2016 and left DeSantis’ campaign for Trump when the two faced off in this year’s campaign.
Trump actually hired her for his campaign in 2022 after the events of Jan. 6 and his loss in 2020, changing his previous campaign into what Politico called “a particularly professional operation, despite Trump’s own tendencies to embrace chaos.” She told Trump to back off the claims of losing the 2020 election and to encourage voting by mail.
The AP reported that Trump used Wiles’ and others’ knowledge of DeSantis to push him out of the race. She rarely posted to social media but wrote “Bye, bye” to respond to a post highlighting DeSantis’ campaign clearing his schedule before he dropped out of the race.
Wiles stayed behind the scenes even refusing to speak when Trump declared victory on Wednesday, the AP reported.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) called Wiles a “strong, intelligent woman” when Trump announced her selection as chief of staff, after billionaire Mark Cuban said that the president-elect didn’t have “strong intelligent women” surrounding him before Election Day.
She said she has seen a different side of the president-elect.
“I will tell you this: The Donald Trump that I have come to know does not behave that way, and the lens that I look at him through, I don’t see any of that. I see strengths, I see smarts, I see a work ethic that is unparalleled,” Wiles told the Tampa Bay Times in 2016. “I blanch sometimes. But, again, it’s not the Donald Trump that I have come to know.”
Politico said Wiles will be the most powerful woman in Washington.
She will be tasked to be Trump’s right-hand person, a gatekeeper of sorts who determines who the president will speak with and when. She will also help make sure his plans are followed while also balancing politics and policy. Trump said Wiles is “tough, smart, innovative, and is universally admired and respected,” Politico reported.
Who makes up the cabinet?
The White House said that currently there are 15 executive departments whose heads are among the members of the cabinet as well as the Chief of Staff, the Vice President and other advisors.
The positions are as follows and includes the person Trump has nominated for the position, or only in the case of the Vice President, won the election. This will be updated as he names his advisors.
- Vice President - J.D. Vance
- Chief of Staff - Susie Wiles
- Secretary of Agriculture
- Secretary of Commerce
- Secretary of Defense
- Secretary of Education
- Secretary of Energy
- Secretary of Health and Human Services
- Secretary of Homeland Security
- Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
- Secretary of the Interior
- Secretary of Labor
- Secretary of State
- Secretary of Transportation
- Secretary of the Treasury
- Secretary of Veterans Affairs
- Attorney General
The following positions were also in President Joe Biden’s cabinet. Trump may or may not have similar cabinet-level positions in his second administration.
- U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations
- Director of National Intelligence
- U.S. Trade Representative
- Environmental Protection Agency administrator
- Office of Management and Budget director
- Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers
- Office of Science and Technology Policy director
- Small Business Administration administrator
- Central Intelligence Agency director
During Trump’s first administration he included cabinet-level positions for the EPA, OMB, Trade Representative, CIA, National Intelligence and the SBA.