'Dramatic exit interview': Political insiders stunned by bombshell chief of staff interview

An extensive interview with President Donald Trump's chief of staff Susie Wiles dropped on Tuesday from Vanity Fair, sending shockwaves through the political world as she revealed what she really thought about Cabinet officials in the administration.

Bill Kristol, former chief of staff to ex-Vice President Dan Quayle, called the piece "a dramatic exit interview from Susie Wiles."

After reading it, Kristol posted, "Wiles lies to try to duck blame. 'In the interview, Wiles took issue with the quote about [Musk's] drug use. "That’s ridiculous, I wouldn’t have said it and I wouldn’t know." But Whipple played a tape for The Times in which she could be heard saying it.'"

Wiles quipped at one point, “He’s an avowed ketamine [user]" and referred to his "microdosing.”

Democratic strategist Jon Cooper agreed, questioning how much longer "Wiles will have a job."

NBC's Sahil Kapur pointed specifically to Wiles' comments that Attorney General Pam Bondi "completely whiffed" in handling the investigation files around Jeffrey Epstein.

The Bulwark's Tim Miller pointed to the excerpt on the report showing that Wiles still doesn't know how Ghislaine Maxwell was transferred from the Florida penitentiary to what Miller calls "Club Fed," a prison camp that typically doesn't allow sex offenders.

However, the text says that Wiles claimed neither she nor Trump "had been consulted about Maxwell's transfer to a less restrictive facility after Blanche's visit," the report said.

"The president was ticked," Wiles claimed. "The president was mighty unhappy. I don't know why they moved her. Neither does the president." However, she said that "if that's an important point, I can find out."

Political podcaster Joanne Carducci, a.k.a. @JoJoFromJerz highlighted the piece of the report in which Wiles confessed Trump is "using criminal prosecutions to retaliate against adversaries." The report also said that Wiles, "acknowledged that he was not telling the truth when [Trump] accused former President Bill Clinton of visiting the private island of the sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein."

"Tell us more, won't you, Susie Wiles," Carducci commented.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's (D-N.Y.) communications director remarked about that same excerpt, "Damn. Susie Wiles still has to like, go to work today after saying this."

Never Trumper, Rick Wilson, cautioned, "Susie Wiles is gonna have a tough day."

The Bulwark's Sam Stein remarked, "This Susie Wiles interview is wild. But also shows that she really does see herself as a facilitator for Trump, not a strategist employed by him: Openly disagreeing with the boss on a host of big fronts with apparently zero thought that she might not be the right fit."

Meghan McCarthy, who previously worked Courier Newspaper, replied to Stein commenting, "The intention of doing this article seems to be humanizing herself, but instead she comes off like heartless robot. It’s wild to be like, oh USAID was very bad, moving on…"

Stein also pointed out, "Buried in the Wiles interview is that she concedes the president would need authorization from Congress if he were to authorize a land incursion into Venezuela. I'm sure they'll say she's wrong. But a notable marker there."

Writer Charlotte Clymer hoped the establishment wouldn't try to lionize Wiles after coming forward.

"I haven't yet read the Susie Wiles interview, but let me guess: the whole of legacy media are going to pretend she sincerely expected a competent and ethical environment under Trump and she's now 'speaking truth to power' and thus gets a pass on her willful complicity?" she asked.