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Before managing the campaign of President-elect Donald J. Trump, Susie Wiles represented a tobacco company and a mining project, among others.
Nov. 21, 2024Updated 8:27 p.m. ET
Donald J. Trump’s first presidential transition was marked by chaos and vows to drain the swamp.
His second transition is moving more quickly, in part because of the leadership of a veteran operative who until earlier this year represented special interests of the sort he had once pledged to curb.
The appointment of that operative, Susie Wiles, to be Mr. Trump’s chief of staff in the White House signals that his second term, like his first, may not be as hostile to special interests as his campaign rhetoric suggested. It also underscores the utility of having advisers who understand the intersection of politics, business and government.
A longtime strategist and lobbyist for business interests and political campaigns, Ms. Wiles ran Mr. Trump’s campaign, and her trusted role in the new administration is already evident. She has been deeply involved in assembling Mr. Trump’s new executive office. Last week, she addressed an influential group of donors in Las Vegas, saying, among other things, that Mr. Trump planned to reinstate some of his prior executive orders that President Biden had revoked.
Ms. Wiles, 67, was registered as a lobbyist until early this year. She did not sever ties with Mercury Public Affairs, where she began working in 2022, until after she was named chief of staff on Nov. 7, said two people familiar with the timing who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private matters.
Her appointment continues a tradition of onetime lobbyists being tapped for high-level government posts by presidents from both parties. They include Ron Klain, who was Mr. Biden’s first chief of staff, though his last disclosed lobbying activity was more than 15 years before he took the White House role.
This so-called revolving door has drawn criticism from government ethics groups.
One consumer advocacy group, Public Citizen, has warned about Ms. Wiles’s lobbying background and demanded that she recuse herself from policy matters that might affect her former clients.
