US president-elect Donald Trump announced late on Thursday that Susie Wiles, one of his two campaign managers, will be his White House chief of staff, entrusting a top position to a political operative who helped him win the election.
The appointment was the first of what is expected to be a flurry of staffing announcements as Mr Trump girds for a return to the White House on January 20th.
Ms Wiles will be the first woman to serve as White House chief of staff.
“Susie Wiles just helped me achieve one of the greatest political victories in American history, and was an integral part of both my 2016 and 2020 successful campaigns,” Mr Trump said in a statement.
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“Susie is tough, smart, innovative, and is universally admired and respected,” he said. “I have no doubt that she will make our country proud.”
Mr Trump has been secluded at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, since defeating Democrat Kamala Harris in Tuesday’s election.
He is considering a wide array of people for top jobs in his administration, many of them familiar figures from his 2017-2021 presidency, four sources said.
Two of the sources told Reuters that Ms Wiles, a long-time Florida-based political strategist, is viewed as trustworthy and gets plaudits for helping to manage Mr Trump’s successful run for the presidency.
As the gatekeeper to the president, the chief of staff typically wields great influence. The person manages White House staff, organises the president’s time and schedule and maintains contact with other government departments and lawmakers.
Mr Trump chose Ms Wiles over former House of Representatives speaker Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican who is close to Mr Trump and has been a frequent visitor to Mar-a-Lago.
Sources said Mr McCarthy had been in contention as well as Brooke Rollins, who was the former acting director of Mr Trump’s Domestic Policy Council.
Former US ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell, who was an acting intelligence chief in Mr Trump’s first term and was with him when he recently met Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy in New York, is under consideration for secretary of state.
Republican senator Bill Hagerty, a former US ambassador to Japan, is also under consideration for that position, the sources said.
Mr Hagerty, asked by CNN about being considered for a role in the Trump administration, said: “I’ll leave the speculation to the speculators.” – Reuters