Raw Story

Despite having about a year's worth of interviews — 11 to be exact — for an in-depth Vanity Fair story, White House insiders scrambled on Tuesday, suggesting to CNN that President Donald Trump's Chief of Staff Susie Wiles may not have known she was on the record.

The bombshell story prompted a White House meltdown and plenty of chatter in Washington, D.C.

"But obviously this has really left the White House and not just the White House, but Trump world as a whole in a state of shock," CNN senior White House correspondent Kristen Holmes said. "I cannot tell you how many conspiracy theories I've heard about how this interview got published, whether it was the idea that she thought she was talking off the record, whether it was the idea that she was sitting for some kind of other interview that wasn't going to be published immediately, that it has something to do with the 2028 campaign, because Susie Wiles is a calculated and political figure. Everything she does has meaning."

The interview was an unusual move for Wiles, who generally has stood guard behind the scenes.

"She is not somebody who seeks the limelight," Holmes added. "She doesn't get out there in the press and do interviews. So the fact that she did this to so many people who are close to President Trump say that it must mean something. Now, of course, again, Wiles has said that that's not the case, that it was just taken out of context. There was an omission in much of what she said. But again, this has caused quite a stir here at the White House."

Social media users responded to the story and Wiles' accusations that she might not have known the interviews were to be included in the story.

"Susie Wiles: What’s that recorder for? Reporter: Recording your answers. Susie Wiles: Right, like I’m going to say anything that’ll come back to bite me in the a--. Ha!" Chris Robinson, former referee and manager, wrote on X.

"Why would a chief of staff agree to an interview that she may now be saying she thought was off the record???. Under those circumstances it's not an 'interview,'" Duff Montgomerie, who described himself as a retired public servant, wrote on X.

"If you give multiple interviews to Vanity Fair and don’t know whether or not you are on or off the record - then you are not qualified to be a chief of staff. Speaking as a chief of staff," Dj Omega Mvp wrote on X.

"Translation: CNN can't believe Wiles would be that dumb," college instructor Anthony M. Hopper wrote on X.

"Haha! So now Wiles & the White House want to follow the rules," social worker and gerontologist Dolly Madison wrote on X.

"She’s been around long enough," retired attorney and professor Howell Ellerman wrote on X.

Sometimes, identical twins enter politics together. One of the most famous examples are Julián and Joaquin Castro, who have both held various offices in Texas. But in Indiana, something even more unusual is brewing: a pair of identical twins active in politics — but in opposite parties.

The reveal came on Tuesday, when Indianapolis City Councilor Nick Roberts posted a video statement on X, captioned, "Addressing something you might have heard about. And no, this isn’t a joke."

"My identical twin brother, Nate, has recently decided to get involved in Republican politics," said Roberts. "While this might seem ridiculous for a lot of reasons, it's been very confusing because we look similar, because he's a Republican, and because a lot of people didn't know I was a twin in the first place."

"Like a lot of families, we have a lot of political disagreement in ours, and it's just something that we've had to deal with," said Roberts. "So, just know if you see somebody that looks like me at a Republican event, or definitely if they're wearing a MAGA hat, it is not me. It is him. And while we disagree on a lot of things, he's still my brother and I care about him. We just disagree on basically every single political issue."

Roberts' brother recently gained attention when he spoke at the Indiana legislature in support of President Donald Trump's mid-decade gerrymandering scheme that would have deleted the state's two Democratic congressional districts. That plan, which triggered months of White House pressure and violent threats against Indiana lawmakers, ultimately failed as even a majority of the GOP state Senate caucus voted it down.

This is not the first time a pair of brothers has found themselves on opposite sides in politics. Another such pair is Brad Woodhouse, who heads up the liberal health care group Protect Our Care, and Dallas Woodhouse, who previously headed the North Carolina Republican Party.

Donald Trump was “mighty unhappy” and caught off guard when the Justice Department transferred convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell to a minimum-security prison after interviewing her, according to unusually candid remarks from his chief of staff, Susie Wiles. In interviews with Vanity Fair, Wiles said the decision was driven by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, not the president, and insisted Trump had no advance knowledge of the move.

Watch the video below.

Trump blindsided by DOJ decision to move Ghislaine Maxwell to minimum-security prison

Almost all of President Donald Trump's Cabinet secretaries quickly released statements supporting White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles after she criticized them in an interview with Vanity Fair.

"The article published early this morning is a disingenuously framed hit piece on me and the finest President, White House staff, and Cabinet in history," Wiles wrote Tuesday on X. "None of this will stop our relentless pursuit of Making America Great Again!"

Many of the Cabinet secretaries quoted Wiles in responding.

"Susie is an exceptional Chief of Staff, and her tireless dedication, loyalty, and commitment to the President are beyond reproach. Powerful leadership often works quietly – never seeking credit and always relentlessly driving results. Our Chief exemplifies that," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent wrote. "Our Administration is united under the leadership of President Trump, and Susie's extraordinary attention to detail, diligence, and dedication to our cause is at the center of our efforts."

"These inflammatory and outright false statements will not be tolerated," Energy Secretary Chris Wright agreed. "Susie Wiles isn't just an extraordinary strategist… she's sharp, authentic, and steady under pressure. She is one of the most competent, principled, and courageous leaders I have ever worked with, and I am honored to stand alongside her every day."

Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer called Wiles "a great friend, mentor, and the architect behind President Trump's successful first months in office."

Education Secretary Linda McMahon insisted that Wiles was "a force of nature - the shrewdest and most loyal Chief of Staff."

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, and FBI Director Kash Patel also expressed support.

"The radical left is at it again, trying to create discord on President Trump's team. It won't work because we know & love @SusieWiles," Duffy wrote.

President Donald Trump was hit by pushback from some MAGA Republicans —including "War Room" host Steve Bannon — for an executive order limiting states' ability to regulate artificial intelligence technology.

The Hill's Alexander Bolton on Tuesday wrote, "Trump is trying to avoid an open fight with Republicans who want to rein in the titans of AI by reaching out to GOP lawmakers to make the argument that state regulation of the industry could cripple its growth. But Republicans who warn that unregulated AI poses a serious threat to intellectual property, American jobs and children's safety aren't happy the president did an end-run around Congress — even if they're holding back from criticizing the president directly."

Bannon is being especially outspoken.

Although the "War Room" podcaster — who served as White House chief strategist in the first Trump Administration in 2017 — is a major Trump ally, he is often critical of the president's alliances with Silicon Valley tech bros. And he isn't shy about attacking Tesla head Elon Musk.

In a statement, Bannon said of Trump's AI executive order, "After two humiliating face plants on must-pass legislation, now we attempt an entirely unenforceable EO — tech bros doing upmost to turn POTUS MAGA base away from him while they line their pockets."

Outgoing Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) is another MAGA Republican who is critical of Trump's tech alliances.

The Georgia congresswoman recently resigned from the U.S. House of Representatives, effective early January 2026, and believes that Trump has betrayed his America First agenda during his second presidency.

In a post on X, Greene declared, "I will NOT vote for any bill that destroys states' rights and lets AI run wild for the next 10 years. AI will replace jobs, especially in the press. This is not a left or right issue. It's about humanity. I'll go to the mat on this. If you kill federalism, I'm out."

Republicans are on the wrong track for holding onto their congressional majorities, according to a new data analysis.

CNN's Harry Enten crunched the numbers on a series of new polling that found Americans are concerned about the direction the country is headed, and the data analyst said they seem to be in the mood for a change in leadership heading into next year's midterm elections.

"I like going traveling, we all do," Enten said. "Look, you know what it was, the NBC News poll came out this weekend, and I saw this wrong track number, and it just kind of jumped out to me because it was 66 percent, and one of the things I always like to look at is, you know, Donald Trump historically has done better than his polling suggested. But these right track-wrong track numbers have generally tracked with what actually the country is feeling. We see 66 percent there, more than three in five Americans who say the country is on the wrong track. Ipsos, 61 percent, MU, Marquette University Law School, 64 percent, Gallup, 74 percent of Americans say they are dissatisfied with the state of the nation."

"You see it on your screen right there, and all of these numbers, all of these numbers that I could find were the highest percentage who said that the country was on the wrong track since Donald Trump took office," Enten added. "It's not just Trump's poll numbers, it's disapproval that's going higher and higher and higher. It's the wrong track numbers that are going higher and higher, as well."

That's quite a turnaround from the start of Trump's second term, Enten said.

"Yeah, it's a huge change – it's a huge change," he said. "Think that the country is on the wrong track or the right track, you go back to April, May – look, the clear majority of Americans thought that the country was on the wrong track, at 58 percent, but you see 38 percent, a 20-point difference here. Look at that: What we've seen is a ballooning of this, a ballooning. Now you take the average of the polls, right, and now we're talking well north on average."

"Two and three Americans say that the country is on the wrong track now," Enten added. "Less than three in 10 Americans say that the country is on the right track, and when we look at this back in the going into the 2024 election, right, the election in which the Democratic Party was pushed out of power, this number looks a whole heck of a lot. This right track number looks a whole heck of a lot what it looked like going into 2024 election. This 66 percent looks a whole heck of a lot like that number going into the 2024 election."

That's an ominous sign for Republicans heading into next year's election, he said.

"President's party didn't lose House seats, midterms since 1978, percentage said the country was on the wrong track, 46 percent in 2002, 38 percent in 1998," Enten said. "The 66 percent now, the 66 percent, a lot of numbers on the screen right now who say the country is on the wrong track? This doesn't look anything like those midterms where the president's party didn't lose. The Republican Party is on track to lose the House of Representatives if the wrong track numbers look anything like they do right now."

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