The White House had a meltdown on Tuesday after CNN reported on its reaction to President Donald Trump's Chief of Staff Susie Wiles' bombshell Vanity Fair interview.
White House insiders were reportedly managing a clean-up operation over the information Wiles revealed about the reality inside Trump world when a Trump insider texted CNN anchor Dana Bash, who was live on air, telling her to correct a chyron that said "White House aides reeling over Susie Wiles interview."
CNN analyst David Chalian and Bash were discussing how the interview had rocked Washington, D.C..
"There are sort of earthquakes in politics and then there are moments like this. And it is because Susie Wiles is so restrained, so strategic, so well respected and what this is, is Susie Wiles unfiltered, on politics, on personality and on real-time policy decisions," Bash said. "And I would add, so loyal, and I'm not sure this changes here."
Chalian said CNN's phones were exploding early Tuesday.
"This electrified everyone because it was so unexpected and I don't think, and I think we have no reporting to indicate that she went into these interviews in any way to try and be anything but strategic and loyal to the president that she serves and serves with such a grip on power and flow of information inside this second Trump term," Chalian said.
"What is astounding, as you said, is the unfiltered nature of it. The other thing that I would note in her pushback, Dana, nowhere does Susie Wiles say she didn't say these things..."
Wiles has called the story "a hit piece" and said her words were taken out of context. But Chalian argued it revealed even more about the current state of the Republican party and MAGA movement.
"Policy point after policy point, she pulls back the curtain and gives the reader a real sense of what is going on inside the chief of staff's thinking on those things," Chalian said.
Bash then added that Trump insiders were texting her during the broadcast.
"What they are doing is circling the wagons and sort of cleaning this up in defense of Susie Wiles," Chalian said.
Inside the White House, people see her as "a straight shooter" and "solid," Bash added.
Bash pointed to an "intriguing" topic, including the Epstein files and the new Trump followers — not the MAGA base — that Wiles described.
"This is so telling, David, because this is all about where the GOP is right now and Susie Wiles is already there, looking ahead. How do we get from what is the Trump party right now, beyond that, and keep those people in the fold for when he is no longer on the ballot."
Chalian described how Wiles is considering the future.
"We've seen the fraying of the coalition that got him to where he is in a second term, and that is precisely the folks that Susie Wiles is talking about here, about the larger Republican project, about how to keep that coalition together for beyond Donald Trump's tenure," he added.
