White House Chief Says Trump Has 'Alcoholic Personality', Calls Elon Musk 'Avowed Drug User'

Last Updated:December 17, 2025, 08:04 IST

In her shockingly candid remarks about the Trump administration, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles called Elon Musk a "ketamine user" and JD Vance a "conspiracy theorist".

Susie Wiles (L) serves as the White House Chief of Staff in the second Trump administration. (Reuters/File)

White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, often regarded as US President Donald Trump’s most powerful aide in the Oval Office, provided a two-part interview to Vanity Fair where she offered a blunt and occasionally critical take on Trump’s inner circle.

In her shockingly candid remarks, Wiles talked about Trump’s ‘alcoholic personality’, while she called Tesla CEO Elon Musk an ‘avowed ketamine user’ and Vice President JD Vance a ‘conspiracy theorist’. She also criticised US Attorney General Pam Bondi for her handling of the Epstein files and called Office of Management and Budget director Russell Vought a “right-wing absolute zealot."

Her remarks appear to have rocked the Trump administration, and Wiles distanced herself from the interview, calling it a “disingenuously framed hit piece" on her. “Significant context was disregarded and much of what I, and others, said about the team and the President was left out of the story. I assume, after reading it, that this was done to paint an overwhelmingly chaotic and negative narrative about the President and our team," Wiles said on X.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump “has no greater or more loyal advisor than Susie. The entire administration is grateful for her steady leadership and united fully behind her."

Trump’s ‘Alcoholic Personality’

Wiles drew a comparison between Trump and her late father, NFL star Pat Summerall, who was described as an absentee father and an alcoholic. “Alcoholism does bad things to relationships, and so it was with my dad and me," she said.

“High-functioning alcoholics or alcoholics in general, their personalities are exaggerated when they drink. And so I’m a little bit of an expert in big personalities," she said, while saying that Trump had an ‘alcoholic’ personality. “operates (with) a view that there’s nothing he can’t do. Nothing, zero, nothing."

She also revealed that many of Trump’s policies – suhc as the prosecution of New York Attorney General Letitia James – were aimed at revenge against his opponents. Wiles said she and Trump had an informal agreement that his “score settling" would end after 90 days, which the president did not follow. “I don’t think he wakes up thinking about retribution. But when there’s an opportunity, he will go for it," she said.

Trump gave Wiles a vote of confidence in an interview later Tuesday with the New York Post and cast doubt on the accuracy of the report. “I didn’t read it, but I don’t read Vanity Fair — but she’s done a fantastic job," he said.

Elon Musk A ‘Drug User’

Wiles said Elon Musk, a former Trump ally who oversaw the chaotic government downsizing with his Department of Government Efficiency, an “avowed ketamine user".

“He’s an avowed ketamine (user). And he sleeps in a sleeping bag in the EOB (Executive Office Building) in the daytime. And he’s an odd, odd duck, as I think geniuses are. You know, it’s not helpful, but he is his own person," she said. Wiles said she was initially “aghast" at Musk’s dissolution of USAID and that “no rational person" could think his process was good.

“Elon’s attitude is you have to get it done fast. If you’re an incrementalist, you just won’t get your rocket to the moon. And so with that attitude, you’re going to break some china. But no rational person could think the USAID process was a good one. Nobody."

JD Vance A ‘Conspiracy Theorist’

Wiles said she’d be “one of the first people" to support a 2028 presidential run from Vice President JD Vance. She said Vance’s conversion from a Never Trumper to a firebrand MAGA leader was “sort of political".

While discussing the Epstein files, she called Vance “a conspiracy theorist for a decade." She said, “For years, (FBI Director) Kash (Patel) has been saying, ‘Got to release the files, got to release the files.’ And he’s been saying that with a view of what he thought was in these files that turns out not to be right."

Vance on Tuesday praised Wiles for her loyalty to Trump, CNN reported. Asked about the conspiracy theorist comments after giving a speech in Pennsylvania, Vance said, “I only believe in the conspiracy theories that are true."

Meanwhile, Wiles also said Trump was “wrong" to say there was incriminating evidence against former President Clinton in the Epstein files, while criticising Pam Bondi’s handling of the files. “I think she completely whiffed" by giving influencers “binders full of nothingness. And then she said that the witness list, or the client list, was on her desk. There is no client list, and it sure as hell wasn’t on her desk," she said.

She also contradicted the Trump administration’s message on boat strikes. While Trump has said they’re about stopping drugs from reaching the United States, Wiles indicated it’s about applying pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. “He wants to keep on blowing boats up until Maduro cries uncle," Wiles told Vanity Fair.

News world White House Chief Says Trump Has 'Alcoholic Personality', Calls Elon Musk 'Avowed Drug User'

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