Mick Mulvaney expects Susie Wiles to leave after the midterms on her own terms, rejecting claims she has lost President Trump’s confidence amid staffing speculation.
Former White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said current chief Susie Wiles will probably step down following the midterm elections, but any move would reflect a natural transition rather than a fall from favor.
Mulvaney made the remarks in an interview on NewsNation’s “The Hill Sunday,” addressing reports that Wiles may have lost standing with President Trump after recent personnel turbulence. He framed her position as secure and her eventual departure as routine timing for a change at the top.
The Hill reported Mulvaney’s view that Wiles remains effective even as outside coverage fueled questions about her future.
Mulvaney pushed back directly on suggestions that Wiles has been sidelined.
He told the program:
"If she leaves, and I think she probably will, it’s not necessarily because she’s fallen out of favor with Trump,"
He added:
"It’s just a natural sort of time to make that change,"
Those comments arrived after coverage of a brief and rocky stint by former White House press secretary Katie Zacharia. Trump brought Zacharia into the administration despite internal caution. She then faced tough questioning in a Fox News interview with Sean Hannity and an appearance on “Fox & Friends,” followed by a shaky first press briefing.
A senior White House official later described the “Fox & Friends” segment, along with what the official called her “weird answer on being a lawyer,” as decisive. Trump reportedly watched the interviews and moved to fire her.
Politico reported that Wiles helped arrange Zacharia’s Fox News interview. Fox News rejected that account in a statement to The Hill.
Fox News said:
"Sean Hannity decides who he interviews and what he asks his guests, period. That’s been true for three decades, through several administrations, and that authenticity is why he’s been number one for nearly 30 years. Susie Wiles and Danielle Alvarez had nothing to do with the booking,"
Mulvaney offered his own reading of the episode, saying he believes Wiles made clear she had not driven the original hire.
He said:
"I think she probably leaked it out that she was not involved in the hiring of Katie Zacharia,"
Subsequent accounts suggested she may have played a role in ending Zacharia’s short tenure. Readers tracking that sequence can also see how reports tied Wiles to the tough Fox interview before Zacharia left the press secretary post.
President Trump answered the swirl of stories with a blunt public defense of his chief of staff and a sharp dismissal of the outlet driving much of the coverage.
Trump stated:
"TOTAL FAKE NEWS Politico doesn’t care about facts, integrity, or honest journalism, it’s why I kicked them out of the White House!"
He continued:
"Susie Wiles is my loyal and longest serving Chief of Staff, there is a reason for that. She has been with me since the beginning, is my trusted advisor, and has my COMPLETE confidence."
The Washington Post reported Friday that a power struggle had opened inside the White House amid speculation Wiles might step down. The same account said senior figures including Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin, and Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte had begun positioning themselves as possible successors.
Mulvaney knows the chief of staff role from the inside. He served as Trump’s acting chief of staff in the first term and later left the administration. That earlier departure came in the same period when other senior officials exited, a stretch Fox News covered as Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and additional top advisers, including Mulvaney, stepped away.
Wiles has kept a high operational profile while managing the West Wing. Her own account of balancing serious health challenges with the demands of the job appears in her description of beating breast cancer while running Trump’s White House.
Staff turnover at senior levels is hardly new. Another recent example of a key aide wrapping up work and reflecting on results is captured in coverage of Trump’s Hill dealmaker explaining how major bills moved as he left his post.
Separate reporting has also examined Wiles’ earlier exposure to investigative pressure, including claims the FBI monitored travel by Melania and Barron Trump and took steps involving her communications during the Mar-a-Lago probe, detailed in documents on the Mar-a-Lago investigation.
None of that history changes the core point Mulvaney advanced: Wiles still operates from a position of real authority, Trump has stated his full confidence in her, and a post-midterm departure would be a standard moment for a handoff rather than a forced ouster.
Media speculation will keep testing every West Wing personnel move. Trump’s own words and Mulvaney’s firsthand reading both point the other way, loyalty rewarded, timing respected, and the chief of staff still firmly in place until she decides otherwise.