President-elect Trump appoints Suzy Wiles as chief of staff

WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump has named his winning campaign manager, Suzy Wiles, as White House chief of staff, the first woman to hold the influential role.

Wiles is widely regarded by those inside and outside of Trump’s inner circle as having run his most disciplined and well-executed campaign to date and was considered a leading contender for the position. She largely avoided the spotlight and even refused to speak at the microphone early Wednesday morning while Trump celebrated his victory.

She could do her part to help control Trump’s worst impulses. Not by scolding or lecturing him, but by earning his respect and showing him that it is better for him to follow his own advice than to ignore it.

“Susie is tough, smart, innovative, respected and admired around the world. “Suu Kyi will continue to work tirelessly to make America great again,” Trump said in a statement. “It is a natural honor to have Suu Kyi as the first female Chief of Staff in American history. I have no doubt she will make our country proud.”

Trump has had four chiefs of staff, including one who served for a year in his first administration, part of a record number of personnel changes in his administration.

A successful chief of staff serves as the president’s secretary, helping execute the president’s agenda and balancing competing political and policy priorities. They also tend to act as gatekeepers, helping the president decide who he spends time with and with whom he speaks, an effort that has chafed Trump inside the White House.

Chris Whipple, author of “The Gatekeepers,” a book that details the role White House chiefs of staff play in shaping and defining the presidency, said chiefs of staff are “absolutely critical to running an effective White House.” “At the end of the day, the most important thing is to say what the president doesn’t want to hear.”

Wiles is a longtime Florida-based Republican strategist who worked for Trump’s campaign in the state in 2016 and 2020. Before that, she ran Rick Scott’s 2010 Florida gubernatorial campaign and briefly served as manager of Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman’s 2012 presidential campaign.

Chris LaCivita, who served as co-manager of the campaign with Wiles, posted to X: “I am so happy and proud of one of the fiercest and most loyal fighters I have ever had the pleasure of working with!!!”