Campaign chief Susie Wiles tapped as Trump’s COS

Susie Wiles, who led Donald Trump’s presidential run, will become the first female White House chief of staff in US history when Trump retakes the presidency next year.

Donald Trump greets Susie Wiles during the election night event at the West Palm Beach Convention Centre in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Wednesday. Picture: AFP

Susie Wiles, who led Donald Trump’s presidential run, will become his White House chief of staff when he retakes the presidency next year, making her the first woman to hold that role in US history.

“Susie Wiles just helped me achieve one of the greatest political victories in American history, and was an integral part of both my 2016 and 2020 successful campaigns,” Mr Trump said in a statement overnight on Thursday.

“Susie is tough, smart, innovative, and is universally admired and respected. Susie will continue to work tirelessly to Make America Great Again.

“It is a well deserved honour to have Susie as the first-ever female chief of staff in United States history. I have no doubt that she will make our country proud.”

Other key jobs in the second Trump administration to be filled in the “days and weeks ahead”, Mr Trump’s team said.

“There are some people that will be returning,” senior Trump aide Jason Miller told Fox on Wednesday. “And there’ll be some new people joining the mix.”

Linda McMahon, a former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, and Howard Lutnick, the founder of the brokerage firm Cantor Fitzgerald, are leading the transition process.

Ms Wiles, 67, is known for a steely calm presence and brought a level of professionalism that was sometimes lacking in Mr Trump’s preceding two presidential bids. She ran Mr Trump’s campaign in Florida in 2016 and 2020 before taking on the national job.

The Republican’s decisive victory in Tuesday’s election sets off a scramble to vet and sign off on top staffing picks before Inauguration Day on January 20.

Mr Trump made a point of highlighting the work Ms Wiles did during his victory speech early on Wednesday, teasing her for her shy, unassuming nature as she buried herself onstage behind members of his family. While she was the single most-important person in the campaign, Ms Wiles let Mr Trump get advice and feedback from a number of players.

“I believe somebody capable of running for office at this level is better served by lots of inputs. That’s president Trump’s preferred way to operate. He has so many people he talks to,” she told The Wall Street Journal last week.

“Sometimes I am the last one, but I’m rarely the first, and I’m never the only one. I may be at the top of the village, but it’s a village.”

A 2015 meeting between Mr Trump and Ms Wiles at Trump Tower in New York was the start of one of his longest-running alliances with a top adviser. Mr Trump has fallen out with many chiefs of staff, and his previous campaigns were marked by staff shake-ups at the top. With Ms Wiles he gets someone he trusts.

At one point in 2016, Mr Trump thought he should be doing better in Florida and castigated Ms Wiles, saying she was low energy and too quiet. Ms Wiles pushed back, telling Mr Trump that if he wanted someone to set their hair on fire, she wasn’t the person for the job. But if he wanted to win Florida, she said, then he should let her do her job.

Mr Trump won Florida with 49 per cect of the vote in 2016, reclaiming for the GOP a state Barack Obama won twice. Mr Trump’s win there was called early, portending his shocking win nationally. Four years later, he won Florida by a bigger margin, 51 per cent of the vote, with Ms Wiles again running his campaign there, though he lost his re-election bid.

Those who have worked with her say she is unflappable behind her trademark mirrored sunglasses, avoids the limelight and is quick to give her team credit for her stack of victories.

“Every campaign she’s been involved with, she’s been a calming presence, ” said Florida lobbyist and Wiles ally Brian Ballard. “He saw in her the DNA of a winner.”

The Wall Street Journal