Susie Wiles says Trump is 'different' than he was

White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles says President Trump is a “different person” after experiencing two assassination attempts and multiple legal cases against him.

“He’s been through so much — the lawfare, having been the leader of the free world, having had an assassination attempt,” Ms. Wiles said in an interview on “My View with Lara Trump” on Fox News. “He’s a different person than he was.”

Ms. Wiles was the first person picked for a position in the administration and is the first woman to hold the chief of staff position. She’s been with Mr. Trump since his early campaign days — running his Florida campaigns in 2016 and 2020.

Mr. Trump called her “tough, smart, innovative, and is universally admired and respected” when announcing his decision.

This was her first sit-down interview since Mr. Trump took office.

She said “life experience and who he is changed him.”

Mr. Trump faced two assassination attempts, with one shooting grazing his ear and leaving a rally attendee dead in Butler, Pennsylvania. He also faced legal jeopardy, both civil and criminal. He became the first president convicted of felony crimes after being found guilty in a hush money case in New York involving porn actress Stormy Daniels.

“I think he’s a better leader now,” Ms. Wiles said. “So I don’t know that I had anything to do with that, but I think the country benefits from it.”

Ms. Wiles said she didn’t always think she would be involved in politics to this extent.

“I stayed home — in Jacksonville, Florida, when my kids were growing up so I could be a mom. And when they left home, a couple of people said to me, ‘Wouldn’t you like to do this on some sort of a national scale?’ And that was about the same time that I got that call from Donald Trump,” she said. “So I’d been in politics and government virtually my whole life and, and just sort of gravitated and graduated to this over the last several years.”

She said those in “Trump world … are hyper competitive.”

“You want to win,” she said. “That’s what got me in it. That’s what keeps me in it. And so I’m maybe quietly competitive.” 

She said the administration’s goals for the future include rebuilding the economy, removing criminals from the country and forging peace for the world.

“I see my job as just sort of keeping the trains on the tracks and running on time here, so that the subject matter experts, and particularly the president and the vice president, can do what they need to do … to fix the country,” she said.