The real reason Susie Wiles talked to me 11 times

I don’t think it’s immodest of me to say that

the interviews

I did with

Ms Susie Wiles that appeared in articles in Vanity Fair

– in which President Donald Trump’s White House chief of staff described him as having an “alcoholic’s personality” and called Vice President J.D. Vance “a conspiracy theorist for a decade” –

set off a political tempest.

Mr Trump’s top advisers leaped to Ms Wiles’ defence, and she called the story a “disingenuously framed hit piece”. But after she initially denied having made certain remarks about billionaire Elon Musk (only to be told they were on tape), neither Ms Wiles nor anyone else in the White House challenged the article’s accuracy.