Has Trump’s chief of staff revealed White House secrets?
Americast
BBC
4.2 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 17 December 2025
⏱️ 30 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Susie Wiles is widely credited as being the mastermind behind Donald Trump’s successful presidential campaign last year. The White House Chief of Staff, referred to by the president as the “most powerful woman in the world”, is the gatekeeper to the Oval Office and a crucial figure in delivering Trump’s national agenda.
She also rarely speaks to the media, making her an elusive figure in the president’s top team despite her significant influence. But in a series of interviews for Vanity Fair, she refers to Donald Trump as having an “alcoholic’s personality”, describes JD Vance as a “conspiracy theorist” and Elon Musk as an “odd, odd duck”. The White House has described the articles as a “framed hit piece” and accused Vanity Fair of taking statements out of context.
In today’s podcast, Justin and Anthony go through some of the most revealing lines from the interviews, and speak to the journalist who sat down with Susie Wiles - Chris Whipple - to find out why he thinks Wiles wanted to speak with him, and how he responds to White House criticism of the interviews.
HOSTS: • Justin Webb, Radio 4 Presenter • Anthony Zurcher, North America Correspondent
GUEST: Chris Whipple, Journalist and author of several White House books, including Uncharted: How Trump Beat Biden, Harris, and the Odds in the Wildest Campaign in History
GET IN TOUCH: • Join our online community: https://discord.gg/qSrxqNcmRB • Send us a message or voice note via WhatsApp to +44 330 123 9480 • Email [email protected] • Or use #Americast
This episode was made by George Dabby with Alix Pickles. The technical producer was Michael Regaard. The series producer is Purvee Pattni. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.
If you want to be notified every time we publish a new episode, please subscribe to us on BBC Sounds by hitting the subscribe button on the app.
You can now listen to Americast on a smart speaker. If you want to listen, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Americast”. It works on most smart speakers.
US Election Unspun: Sign up for Anthony’s BBC newsletter: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-68093155
Americast is part of the BBC News Podcasts family of podcasts. The team that makes Americast also makes lots of other podcasts, including The Global Story, The Today Podcast, and of course Newscast and Ukrainecast. If you enjoy Americast (and if you're reading this then you hopefully do), then we think that you will enjoy some of our other pods too. See links below.
The Global Story: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/w13xtvsd The Today Podcast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p0gg4k6r Newscast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/series/p05299nl Ukrainecast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p0bqztzm
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. |
| 0:05.8 | She's credited with masterminding Donald Trump's return to the White House. |
| 0:10.4 | She is one of the most powerful women in America. |
| 0:13.0 | I think it's fair to say, one of the most powerful women in the world, |
| 0:15.6 | as Donald Trump himself implied after he won the election last year. |
| 0:19.4 | Let me also express my tremendous appreciation for Susie and Chris, |
| 0:25.9 | the job you did. |
| 0:28.1 | Suzy, come, Susie, come here, Susan. |
| 0:31.8 | Chris, come here, Chris. |
| 0:34.8 | Susie likes to stay sort of in the back, let me tell you. |
| 0:38.3 | The Ice Baby, we call it the Ice Baby. |
| 0:44.3 | Susie likes to stay in the background. |
| 0:46.1 | She's not in the background. |
| 0:47.9 | Susie Wiles, Donald Trump's Chief of Staff, |
| 0:50.2 | has given an interview now, though, to Vanity Fair, |
| 0:53.4 | in which she described her boss as having an alcoholic's personality |
| 0:57.2 | and called the Vice President J.D. Vance a conspiracy theorist. |
| 1:00.7 | The White House says it's a hit piece, |
| 1:02.5 | but it is the most revealing glance inside the White House |
| 1:05.9 | that we have had so far in the Second Administration. |
| 1:09.1 | We're going to talk more about it. |
| 1:10.8 | Welcome to AmeriCast. |
... |
Transcript will be available on the free plan in 6 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.