President Donald Trump’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles, announced on Monday through the president that she was diagnosed with breast cancer — and reports indicate the White House is worried about how it will get by without her.
“Wiles’ diagnosis has generated fresh anxiety among aides and allies who describe her as perhaps the sole irreplaceable figure in Trump’s orbit — and the only one capable of imposing order on a White House led by a famously unmanageable commander in chief,” CNN reported on Thursday. One longtime Trump adviser told the publication, “She’s basically doing what we were told was impossible. I don’t know what any of us — especially the president — would do without Susie.”
CNN described Wiles as a “constant presence” in Trump’s White House, frequently attending his sensitive meetings and high profile public events. In a White House where Trump wishes to be the center of attention, Wiles is skilled at staying out of range of the cameras, providing assistance while not receiving media focus.
Her low-key attitude may explain her approach to announcing her cancer.
“The way Susie sees it, everyone knows someone who has had cancer, and they keep doing their jobs,” a source close to Wiles told CNN.
“This past week, I was diagnosed with breast cancer,” Wiles said in a statement which the White House shared with AlterNet. “Nearly one in eight women in the United States will face this diagnosis. Every day, these women continue to raise their families, go to work, and serve their communities with strength and determination. I now join their ranks.”
Wiles thanked her doctors and Trump, adding that she plans on “continuing serving in my role as White House Chief of Staff.”
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, echoed those thoughts.
“Susie has built a close-knit team in the West Wing because we all fought together on the campaign,” Leavitt told CNN. “That camaraderie has followed us into the White House, thanks to her leadership. Everyone in the West Wing is rallying around her. No questions asked.”
Wiles’ tenure in the White House has not been without controversy. Because of her past as a lobbyist, Public Citizen warned that her “lobbying client list is both extensive and littered with controversial clients who stand to benefit from having their former lobbyist running the White House.” In a December interview with Vanity Fair, Wiles admitted that Trump has an "alcoholic's personality" and lives with "a view that there’s nothing he can’t do." She described Vice President JD Vance as someone who has "been a conspiracy theorist for a decade" but changed his stances so he could work with Trump. Finally she Trump advisor and world’s richest man Elon Musk as "an avowed ketamine" user and "an odd, odd duck" whose actions left her "aghast." At the same time, Wiles reportedly worked with Vance to reconcile Trump and Musk when the two had a falling out last year.