Washington Examiner senior writer Joe Concha defended White House chief of staff Susie Wiles’s attempt to control the “narrative” by interviewing with Vanity Fair.
Wiles slammed the article, published Tuesday, as a “disingenuously framed hit piece on me and the finest President, White House staff, and Cabinet in history.” Concha understood Wiles’s possible reasoning behind meeting the outlet 11 different times to speak with her over the course of this year.
“I think sometimes you don’t want the narrative to be painted for you. When it comes to, for example, the Trump economy or anything in terms of the accomplishments of this administration,” Concha said. “So, you end up doing an interview to try to obviously push your perspective and try to obviously put the administration in the proper light.”
“In the end, you got to pick and choose your people wisely,” Concha added. “That’s the only criticism I would have for Susie Wiles: Pick and choose people that interview you a little better next time, this is what you end up having to clean up on aisle five, 16, and 24 as a result.”
Concha cited that the reporter, Chris Whipple, is a former MSNBC and NPR reporter who wrote a book about Trump’s campaign in 2024. According to Concha, Whipple’s book about the campaign is an “anti-Trump manifesto.” Still, Concha acknowledged that the administration should continue speaking to the media, while recommending that they film the entire conversation.
“It is important because 2026 is basically here now at this point. Midterms coming up. If you end up losing the House, you have House Speaker Hakeem Jeffries, and then you’re in impeachment for perpetuity,” Concha said.
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Concha was referring to the time President Donald Trump was impeached twice while Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) was speaker.
Wiles is the first female White House chief of staff. She previously served in President Ronald Reagan’s administration, working in the scheduling department. Before becoming chief of staff, Wiles was Trump’s campaign manager.
