Congress
Get your Susie Wiles fix here
The hottest ticket in town is about to be Susie Wiles’ cell phone number.
There are many reasons why Trump chose Wiles, who will be the first woman to hold the job, as his chief of staff. She largely eschews the spotlight — except for when she’s hitting back at Mark Cuban for saying Trump doesn’t have “strong, intelligent women” around him. It’s a trait that has made her an effective operator and helped keep her in Trump’s good graces. (When Trump called her onstage to speak at his victory party, she politely declined. “Susie likes to stay in the background. She’s not in the background,” he said.)
She is one of the few top officials to survive an entire Trump campaign and was part of the team that put together a far more professional operation for his third White House bid — even if the former president routinely broke through those guardrails, anyway.
People close to Trump note that she agreed to help the former president back in March of 2021 when he was at a political low point, and he respects her opinion. Plus, she is the rare person in Trump’s world who is widely admired, trusted and respected by lawmakers and young staffers alike.
5 things to know about her, at a glance:
- Her experience is in running campaigns — not the government.
- She’s worked for a spectrum of Republicans, from Mitt Romney to Rick Scott.
- She turned Trump’s dysfunctional political universe into something organized.
- She is a longtime lobbyist and her clients included the tobacco company Swisher International while simultaneously running the Trump campaign.
- She is the daughter of legendary sportscaster Pat Summerall.
What some of the Trump surrogates have said:
- Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who remains in touch with Trump, recently advocated for Wiles on the “Guy Benson Show,” saying she would be a “great chief of staff and should do the job.”
- Charlie Kirk, the influential conservative podcaster and Turning Point USA founder who campaigned extensively for Trump, agreed in a post on X: “Susie Wiles ran Trump’s best campaign of the three. … She’s disciplined, she’s smart, and she doesn’t seek the limelight. She would make an incredible chief of staff.” He was quickly backed up by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, where Wiles rose through the ranks as an operative.
- “Susie is the only one who can do it,” said one Trump adviser who was granted anonymity to speak candidly. “Susie is the one that everyone respects.”
And ICYMI: Our own Michael Kruse’s long-read magazine piece from earlier this year: The Most Feared and Least Known Political Operative in America
A version of this report first appeared in West Wing Playbook, your guide to the preparations, personnel decisions and policy deliberations of Donald Trump’s presidential transition. Sign up to get it in your inbox every weekday.
Congress
Rep. Mike Lawler ‘accosted’ by Sen. Rand Paul’s son
Rep. Mike Lawler on Wednesday said he was accosted by the son of Sen. Rand Paul on Tuesday night with a 10-minute “reprehensible” antisemitic rant.
The New York Republican told reporters the interaction occurred when he was on his way to a restaurant with at least one journalist. He said William Paul approached him and shouted at him and said he would blame “your people” if Rep. Thomas Massie loses his reelection bid.
“My people?” Lawler asked.
“Yeah, you Jews,” Paul replied.
Lawler said he told Paul that he isn’t Jewish and the senator’s son apologized before launched into an antisemitic diatribe.
“At one point, he said that he hates Jews and hates gays and doesn’t care if they die. And I think that’s fucking disgusting,” Lawler said.
The conversation, he said, ended soon thereafter, with Paul flipping him off and tripping on his way out the door.
In a post to X late Wednesday afternoon, Paul said he “had too much to drink and said some things that don’t represent who I really am.”
“I’m sorry and today I am seeking help for my drinking problem,” he added. A spokesperson for Sen. Rand Paul did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“I think it speaks to a larger issue, obviously, in society and what we’re seeing among young people and what we see online, and this is the level of hatred and vitriol, frankly, that some of my Jewish colleagues experience, that many of my constituents experience,” said Lawler.
Lawler represents New York’s 17th Congressional District, which is home to about 90,000 Jews, or about 12 percent of the district’s population.
“I’m not going to stop standing up for my constituents. I’m not going to stop standing up for the Judeo-Christian values that are at the core of our nation, our Constitution, our rule of law,” he said.
Congress
Lawmakers’ prescription data at risk after data breach
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill were informed this week of a data breach involving the congressional medical office that may have compromised personal information — including their prescription history.
The intrusions occurred March 1 and 3 and targeted RXNT, a medical software provider used by the Office of the Attending Physician to manage care for members of Congress, according to letters sent this week to affected individuals that were reviewed by Blue Light News.
Brian Monahan, the Capitol’s attending physician, is making personal calls to staff and lawmakers whose data are affected, according to one person contacted by phone this week and alerted that their prescription history was among those breached.
RXNT’s software is intended to “securely transmit prescription information to pharmacies for fulfillment,” Monahan’s office explained in the letters to patients. Among the data accessed in the RXNT breach includes names, birthdays, addresses, prescription information, doctor information and pharmacy information.
Under federal law, the data breach has to be reported within 60 days of the intrusion being discovered. RXNT notified the attending physician’s office on the last possible day allowed under federal health privacy rules. That, in turn, might have delayed the OAP’s review of the impact of the breach on Capitol Hill patients, according to two people familiar with the timeline and granted anonymity to share private deliberations.
It is not clear what foreign or domestic entity conducted the breach and where the sensitive data on lawmakers’ health could end up.
Financial data, insurance information and Social Security numbers were not compromised, nor were any patient records maintained by the Office of the Attending Physician that were not shared with RXNT. Such records, which include extensive information on lawmakers’ health history and medical treatments, “remain secured within the walls of Congress” and are “not cloud based,” according to the notice shared with affected patients on Capitol Hill.
“The OAP only provides the minimum information required to process prescription services,” the letter reads.
The Office of the Attending Physician operates several small medical clinics on the Capitol campus where Navy medical personnel handle both emergencies and primary health care for lawmakers, while also providing vaccinations and minor medical services for congressional aides. Staff are able to procure prescriptions through the OAP in limited circumstances, including for official travel and follow-up care.
Congress
Speaker calls allegations against Chuck Edwards ‘serious’
Speaker Mike Johnson said Wednesday the allegations against Rep. Chuck Edwards are “serious” and that he has spoken to the North Carolina Republican — who reportedly denied them all.
Johnson also noted an ongoing House Ethics Committee investigation into sexual misconduct and harassment accusations against Edwards, who is alleged to have had an inappropriate sexual relationship with a staffer, among other things.
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