President Donald Trump’s chatter with his allies about White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles signals that his “Ice Maiden” is on the outs, his longtime biographer says.
Author Michael Wolff explained on the Inside Trump’s Head podcast that Trump’s behavior, as Politico’s Playbook newsletter reported Thursday morning, suggests he’s laying the groundwork for her upcoming departure.
The outlet reported that the 80-year-old president has been polling his friends and allies on their thoughts about his 69-year-old aide, gauging suggestions for possible replacements.
Among Wiles’ potential replacements that Trump floated were his deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, New York Yankees president Randy Levine, his special envoy Steve Witkoff, and former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, according to Politico.
Trump denied the report in a statement to the Daily Beast.
“TOTAL FAKE NEWS Politico doesn’t care about facts, integrity, or honest journalism — it’s why I kicked them out of the White House!” he said in the statement. “Susie Wiles is my loyal and longest serving Chief of Staff — there is a reason for that. She has been with me since the beginning, is my trusted advisor, and has my COMPLETE confidence.”
Host Joanna Coles noted how Wolff had predicted that Wiles “wouldn’t last post-November,” and asked if he had heard anything about how she is doing.
“It doesn’t matter how she is doing,” Wolff replied. “It’s a matter... of... what is Trump’s impression at the moment, what’s in Trump’s head about Susie Wiles.”
The president’s biographer said he was the first person to “paint that picture” that Trump asks his friends about others in his employ before giving them the ax.
“He’s actually even done this... to me,” Wolff said, explaining that Trump once polled him about his thoughts on the president’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon before firing him during his first term.
He continued, “Everybody knows that... the asking around about is the kiss of death. That means you have to say, ‘Well, you know, I think there’s some issues there, Mr. President.’ And then he will tell you... ‘Yeah, I absolutely agree.’ Then he will go on.”
Wolff said the other impact of this behavior from Trump is that “it begins to undermine people.”
“This gets spread from one person to another,” he said. “I’m sure he’s now asking around about Katie Zacharia, but he is apparently asking around about Susie Wiles.”
“So does that mean the end of Susie Wiles?” he continued. “I expect that... it does mean that. That after the midterms, she will be toast. Susie toast.”
“He apparently is asking about this person or that person, but that really doesn’t mean he’s actually asking about that person. What he’s done, what he is doing, is sending the signal that Susie Wiles is out,” he concluded. “He’s poisoning the Susie Wiles ground.”
Reached for comment, a White House spokesperson told the Daily Beast in a frequently reused statement: “Michael Wolff is a professional scumbag and serial liar whose brain has been completely warped by his severe and incurable disease known as Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
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