Congress

Get your Susie Wiles fix here

Published

2 years ago

November 11, 2024

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

Lawmakers once saw Bill Gates as a benevolent innovator. After Epstein, they aren’t sure.

Published

28 minutes ago

June 11, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Tech mogul Bill Gates expressed remorse for his association with Jeffrey Epstein during his closed-door interview Wednesday with the House Oversight Committee. But lawmakers are unsure if his contrition will — or should — be enough to prevent irreconcilable damage to his reputation and standing as a leading innovator and philanthropist.

The Microsoft founder and global health champion made his case to committee members as part of their ongoing investigation into Epstein, a convicted sex offender who died by suicide behind bars in 2019, and the people who might have helped carry out his crimes. Over the course of hours, Gates insisted he did not know about Epstein’s misdeeds and that he never witnessed or took part in the late financier’s criminal behavior.

Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.) said Gates described his relationship with Epstein inside the room as a “means” to support his work of pouring massive amounts of money into humanitarian causes around the world.

“He admitted that he knew of Mr. Epstein’s reputation,” she told reporters during a break in the proceedings. “He admitted that he knew that he had been convicted of [sex] crimes. But ultimately, in his words, he viewed this narrow relationship as being an acceptable means to access wealthy donors.”

Gates’ own self-professed “grave error in judgment” has cost him goodwill in Washington and beyond as a leading tech and energy figure and a benevolent humanitarian. Oversight Committee members are conflicted, however, about whether they should accept Gates’ retelling of a transactional, if morally compromised, relationship, while so many other individuals found to have been in Epstein’s orbit have been unable to recover their reputations.

Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, for instance, was forced to resign from Harvard, while Brad Karp stepped down from chairing the major law firm Paul, Weiss.

The top Democrat on the House Oversight committee, Rep. Robert Garcia of California, told reporters that members of the panel would protect no one found implicated in Epstein’s misdeeds: “We have said we want to talk to anyone. We don’t care if they’re a Republican, Democrat — how wealthy they are.”

Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-Va.), a member of the Oversight panel, highlighted the thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of lives saved by Gates’ contributions.

He said he “deeply, deeply admires [Gates’] commitment to global health and to philanthropy.” But he also noted, “that reality coexists with the reality that he made some terrible, terrible mistakes in engaging with Jeffrey Epstein. … People will have to judge whether one outweighs the other.”

“In my mind,” Walkinshaw said, “those two realities and facts exist. I can’t reconcile them.”

Gates drew scrutiny for appearances in the so-called Epstein files released by the dead sex trafficker’s estate and by the Justice Department, including pictures showing him standing next to women whose identities are unknown. Gates has said he posed with the women — whom he described as Epstein employees — because Epstein asked him to.

In one email released by the Justice Department, Epstein appears to allege that he helped obtain medicine for Gates to treat a sexually transmitted infection.

“As Mr. Gates has consistently stated, and reiterated to the House Oversight Committee, he never witnessed nor had any indication of Epstein’s ongoing criminal conduct. He never visited Epstein’s island, his ranch, or Florida home, and has never victimized anyone,” a Gates spokesperson said in a statement Wednesday.

“When asked about photos in which he appeared with women in Epstein’s orbit, Mr. Gates noted that none of them participated in his meetings with Epstein — they were not introduced to him by name or role and had no substantive interaction with him beyond being asked by Epstein to stand for a photograph,” the spokesperson continued. “Mr. Gates expressed sadness for the suffering endured by anyone harmed by Epstein’s crimes.”

But the evidence in the Epstein files was enough to prompt members of the Oversight Committee to express interest in interviewing Gates along with others featured in the trove, including Bill and Hillary Clinton, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and the billionaire businessman Les Wexner.

On Wednesday, Gates recalled interacting with Epstein in the 2010s in hopes of using Epstein’s connections to support his philanthropy in public health, according to the prepared remarks published on Gates’ website. When it became clear that the potential donors connected to Epstein were uninterested in providing funding, Gates told lawmakers he cut Epstein off. Then, Gates contended, Epstein tried to use knowledge of Gates’ affairs to “pressure [Gates] to re-engage with him.”

Lawmakers did note that Gates has been cooperative and that he gave the committee some interesting names. Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) told reporters that Gates had provided the names of individuals in Epstein’s circle who helped facilitate connections with Gates or his foundation.

Expanding the universe of people within Gates’ network who might have had ties to Epstein could further complicate the billionaire philanthropist’s legacy. So far, humanitarian groups are sticking with him and the Gates Foundation, the largest private provider of global health funding. These partnerships have become even more crucial after the Trump administration last year slashed billions in global health and foreign aid funds, leaving many U.S.-based and international health organizations struggling.

House Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) noted that Gates, who appeared before lawmakers voluntarily rather than under the force of a subpoena, answered every question. He said he thanked Gates for coming in and for his philanthropy.

“He regretted his brief relationship with Epstein — that’s kind of a recurring theme,” Comer said, while adding that is “just what everybody says.”

Following his transcribed interview, Gates released a statement saying he “appreciated the opportunity to meet with the House Oversight Committee.”

He added that he “support[s] the release of all the files and hope my participation contributes to getting justice for the victims.”

Carmen Paun contributed to this report.

Congress

House will vote Thursday on expected-to-fail surveillance patch

Published

3 hours ago

June 10, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The House will vote Thursday on a three-week extension of a key surveillance program a day ahead of its expiration, Speaker Mike Johnson said Wednesday.

But leaders of both parties expect the measure to fail, risking a first-ever lapse of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act as the House prepares to leave for recess until June 23.

The extension through July 2 is set to be debated Wednesday night under suspension of the rules, a fast-track House procedure that requires a two-thirds majority to pass.

But the vast majority of Democrats, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, say they will not support a punt so long as President Donald Trump stands by plans to appoint a close political ally with no national security experience as his acting director of national intelligence. There is also a small but stubborn group of GOP holdouts who would oppose any attempt to pass an extension under regular order procedures.

“I certainly hope that everyone will do the right thing, put politics aside, for a short-term extension,” Johnson said Wednesday. “We’re not asking for anything heroic here.”

Johnson’s announcement of the Thursday morning vote capped a confusing back-and-forth between the two chambers Wednesday. Less than an hour before, he had said in an interview that “the ball’s in the Senate’s court.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, in turn, said in an interview he expected the House would need to move first on a short-term extension.

“We’ll see kind of again what they can come up with over there,” Thune said.

But by Wednesday evening it was clear that regardless of which chamber voted first, the necessary bipartisan coalition to pass an extension simply did not exist.

Senate Democrats quickly poured cold water on the proposed three-week extension, citing Trump’s decision to double down Wednesday on plans to install housing official Bill Pulte as acting DNI.

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), who helped negotiate a three-year extension that has been thrown into limbo, said Trump should name Aaron Lukas, the Senate-confirmed deputy director of the office, the acting director instead of Pulte to ease the path for a short-term patch.

“If he is the acting director during this short-term extension, that’s within the law, and I could be supportive,” Warner said of Lukas.

Should the House leave for its recess after voting Thursday as planned, the Section 702 spy program allowing for warrantless surveillance of foreign sources would lapse for at least a week as World Cup games begin in multiple U.S. cities and the nationwide America 250 celebration approaches. The White House has been prepping an executive order that may cover some aspects of the intelligence data collection in the meantime, according to senior Republicans.

Congress

Introducing Rep. James Gallagher

Published

5 hours ago

June 10, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Speaker Mike Johnson swore in Rep. James Gallagher (R-Calif.) Wednesday as the 431st member of the House, succeeding the late Rep. Doug LaMalfa, a Republican who died in January.

Gallagher brings the partisan balance of the chamber to 219-212, meaning Republicans can afford as many as three defections on party-line votes where all members are participating. But one GOP member, Rep. Tom Kean Jr. of New Jersey, has been absent since March and the exact date of his return is unclear.

Democrats are expected to pick up two additional seats in special elections before September. Special elections have yet to be scheduled to fill two other vacancies in GOP-leaning districts that are unlikely to be filled this Congress.