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Disbelief as White House suggests Susie Wiles may not have known she was on record
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.
‘It’s not me wearing a MAGA hat!’ Dem scrambles as identical twin leaps into politics
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.
‘Fear is the tool of the tyrant’: Ex-DOJ officials leave scathing messages behind
Former Department of Justice officials who were either forced out or resigned in protest of President Donald Trump's administration left some scathing resignation letters for their bosses, and a new organization is seeking to preserve as many of the letters as possible, according to a new report.
Since Trump took office in January, about 5,000 employees at the Department of Justice have either quit or resigned, CBS News reported on Sunday. Meanwhile, a cadre of those former employees is banding together to create a public display of the messages the former employees left for their bosses. Those employees have created an organization called Justice Connection that is organizing and posting the messages, the report added.
Stacey Young, a former civil division attorney for the Justice Department, is leading Justice Connection. A spokesperson for the organization told CBS News that they are working to preserve the messages because they "show what is happening in our country at this moment."
The repository includes messages left by high-profile former employees such as Maurene Comey, the daughter of former FBI Director James Comey.
"Fear is the tool of a tyrant, wielded to suppress independent thought," Comey wrote in a message. "Instead of fear, let this moment fuel the fire that already burns at the heart of this place."
Another former DOJ lawyer, Hagan Scotten, who resigned in protest of the Trump administration's decision to stop prosecuting New York City Mayor Eric Adams on corruption charges, also had her farewell message captured in the online database.
"If no lawyer within earshot of the President is willing to give him that advice, then I expect you will eventually find someone who is enough of a fool, or enough of a coward, to file your motion," Scotten wrote. "But it was never going to be me."
‘Breaking his pledge’: Wall Street Journal slams RFK Jr.’s ‘ideological crusade’ at CDC
The Wall Street Journal's conservative editorial board slammed President Donald Trump's Health Secretary over his "ideological crusade" to turn the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention into an anti-vaccine agency.
Last week, the CDC revised its Vaccine Safety page to include a new advisory for claims that "vaccines do not cause autism." The website now says the claim "is not an evidence-based claim because studies have not ruled out the possibility that infant vaccines cause autism. Studies supporting a link have been ignored by health authorities.”
The new guidance cites a discredited study authored by a scientist at the University of Colorado, Boulder, who wrote a newsletter for Children's Health Defense, an anti-vaccine group that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. led, WSJ's editors wrote in a new editorial.
Kennedy has repeatedly asserted that there are ties between vaccines and childhood rates of autism, although experts have questioned the evidence he's provided to support such claims.
The editors noted that the revised guidelines seem like a lawyerly attempt by Kennedy to keep his promise to GOP Senators like Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) not to change the CDC's vaccine advisory.
"He is also breaking his pledge to Mr. Cassidy not to push vaccines for children off the market," the editorial notes. "Early next month, Mr. Kennedy’s handpicked Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices will discuss aluminum adjuvants and could require manufacturers to remove them from vaccines. That could force a dozen vaccines out of use."
"The aluminum ingredient in vaccines isn’t the same as what’s in kitchen foil," the editorial adds. "Aluminum is naturally present in plants, soil, water, and many foods, including vegetables, tea, and chocolate. During the first six months of life, infants ingest significantly more aluminum from breast milk or formula than they get from vaccines. But RFK Jr. is on an ideological crusade. Reformulating these vaccines with different adjuvants would cost billions of dollars and could take years."
Psychologist flags a sign that Trump may be experiencing a ‘serious cognitive problem’
A clinical psychologist flagged a sign that President Donald Trump may be experiencing a "serious cognitive problem" during a podcast interview that debuted on Sunday.
Trump has displayed some questionable behavior in recent days, including an instance where he snapped at a reporter on Air Force One and told her, "Be quiet, piggy." The event renewed conversations about Trump's cognitive health.
Dr. John Gartner, an author and former professor at Johns Hopkins University, discussed Trump's mental fitness during an interview with The Daily Beast's Joana Coles on a new episode of "The Daily Beast Podcast."
Gartner noted that Trump has admitted to taking multiple cognitive tests since taking office. Trump appears to be divulging the information to address concerns about his mental state, but Gartner said the admissions reveal a much larger problem.
"They said they did advanced imaging," Gartner said. "Okay, well, Trump said not once, not twice, but three times that he had taken cognitive tests. Plural. Okay, so not just a screening exam...They gave him multiple tests. We do not give people multiple cognitive tests unless we suspect there's a serious cognitive problem."
"We also never, ever...give someone an MRI unless we suspect or need to rule out a serious problem," he continued. "So, we know his doctors gave him multiple cognitive tests and an MRI. They didn't say explicitly because of the brain, but we can certainly be sure they scanned his brain. If they're giving him a neuropsychological battery, they're scanning his brain."
"If Donald Trump were just an ordinary patient and you saw these kinds of serious signs of dementia, a responsible doctor would give him both a neuropsychological battery and an MRI," he added. "Of course, they're not telling us why they gave those tests.
They're not telling us the results."
‘Scrubbing the files!’ Epstein brother makes stunning claim GOP ‘sabotaging’ full release
Jeffrey Epstein's brother is warning that Republicans are "scrubbing the files" and "sabotaging" the full release, according to reports.
Mark Epstein said Tuesday in an interview with NewsNation that President Donald Trump and Republicans have changed course over releasing the Epstein files because they are making moves behind the scenes to alter them.
“I’ve been recently told, the reason they’re going to be releasing the files and the reason for the flip is that they’re sabotaging these files,” Mark Epstein told NewsNation.
He added that the GOP is “scrubbing the files to take Republican names out" and claimed the files are being sanitized at a "facility" about 78 miles northwest of Capitol Hill in Winchester, Virginia, The Daily Beast reports.
“He didn’t tell me what he knew, but Jeffrey definitely had dirt on Trump,” he said.
“You could see in the emails. Trump could deny it all he wants, but it’s pretty clear everything Trump says is a lie," he added.
Trump has denied any involvement or knowledge of Epstein and accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell's sex trafficking ring and abuse of girls. And after weeks of pushing to block the release of the files and pressuring other Republicans not to sign the discharge petition, he decided to reverse his moves and now has asked Republicans to sign the petition to release the files.
The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday voted 427-1 to release the Jeffrey Epstein files and send the discharge petition to the Senate in a move aimed to reveal more information about the disgraced late financier and convicted sex offender and his potential ties to other powerful entities.
Paper trail blows hole in congressman’s claim he didn’t rig race for his protégé
Rep. Jesus "Chuy" García (D-IL), a prominent progressive lawmaker from the Chicago area, triggered a firestorm of controversy when he announced his retirement at precisely the filing deadline to run for his district, a move that meant the only candidate who declared for the Democratic primary was his own chief of staff, Patty Garcia.
The congressman, who has said he is retiring due to health concerns and his adoption of a grandchild after the death of his daughter, has faced accusations that he effectively rigged the primary to hand-pick his successor, but denies the accusation. However, paperwork obtained by Politico seems to provide evidence that he was fully aware of and supported the effort by his chief of staff to get on the ballot immediately before his retirement.
"A petition signature page submitted by Patty Garcia to the Illinois Board of Elections shows the representative and his closest allies, whom Chuy García has also helped get elected over the years, signed their names. They include Cook County Commissioner Alma Anaya, Illinois state Sen. Celina Villanueva, state Reps. Aaron Ortiz and Norma Hernandez, and Chicago City Council members Jeylú Gutiérrez and Michael Rodriguez," reported Shia Kapos and Nicholas Wu. "The form is dated Nov. 1, two days before the filing deadline and three days before Chuy García formally announced his retirement."
A spokesperson for the congressman has said this paperwork doesn't prove he manipulated the primary, and that "he did not circulate petitions" for his chief of staff, even though he signed one.
On Tuesday, the House passed a resolution, filed by Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA), reprimanding García's interference in the primary to succeed him.
This came despite the objections of both Illinois Democrats and House leadership, who are broadly standing behind García's decision.
‘Have to be able to take it’: White House blames reporter after Trump calls her ‘piggy’
The White House blamed Bloomberg News correspondent Catherine Lucey after President Donald Trump referred to her as "piggy."
On Friday, Lucey had asked Trump about the Jeffrey Epstein scandal during a gaggle aboard Air Force One.
The reporter wondered why the president was defensive, “if there’s nothing incriminating in the files.”
“Quiet. Quiet, piggy," Trump snapped.
Without providing evidence, an unnamed White House official later told The Guardian that Lucey was to blame.
“This reporter behaved in an inappropriate and unprofessional way towards her colleagues on the plane,” the official said. “If you’re going to give it, you have to be able to take.”
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Disbelief as White House suggests Susie Wiles may not have known she was on record
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.
‘It’s not me wearing a MAGA hat!’ Dem scrambles as identical twin leaps into politics
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.
Trump blindsided by DOJ decision to move Ghislaine Maxwell to low-security prison: aide
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
