Updated ,first published
Washington: Susie Wiles, the White House chief-of-staff credited with injecting relative stability into Donald Trump’s team during his second term, has been diagnosed with breast cancer.
The US president made the announcement on social media on Monday morning (US time), saying Wiles, 68, would continue to serve as his chief-of-staff “virtually full-time” during treatment.
“Her Strength and her Commitment to continue doing the job she loves, and does so well, while undergoing treatment, tells you everything you need to know about her,” Trump said.
“Susie, as one of my closest and most important advisors, is tough and deeply committed to serving the American People. She will soon be better than ever! Melania and I are with her in every way.”
Wiles’ cancer was in its early stages and her prognosis was “excellent”, Trump said. She appeared alongside the president minutes later at a board meeting for the John F. Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts in Washington on Monday (US time).
“She’s going to take care of it immediately as opposed to waiting,” Trump said. “I said, ‘Do it immediately’. With that particular ailment, the faster the better – that’s the only thing I know about it.”
A veteran Republican political operator, Wiles was Trump’s campaign director in Florida during his 2016 bid for the White House, and a senior campaign manager for his 2024 run, credited with keeping the famously digressive president relatively on-message and disciplined.
Trump then made Wiles the first female White House chief-of-staff in US presidential history.
She made headlines late last year when Vanity Fair published a pair of articles based on interviews she gave to author and filmmaker Chris Whipple over the course of 2025, in which she offered candid assessments of the Trump presidency, Vice President JD Vance and various cabinet secretaries.
Following Wiles’ cancer announcement, Vance said he and his family were “praying for our dear friend as she takes on her next fight”.
During a lengthy speech and news conference at the Kennedy Centre on Monday, Trump also forced House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson to divulge the private medical details of a Republican congressman, Neal Dunn, who had a serious health issue.
“What was the diagnosis?” Trump interjected. “I think it was a terminal diagnosis,” Johnson said. Trump jumped in again: “He would be dead by June.”
Johnson responded: “OK, that wasn’t public. It was ‘grim’, that’s what I was going to say.”
Trump then added: “With a heart problem, by the way – this was a heart problem.”
Johnson said Dunn was successfully treated by the president’s doctors at Walter Reed Hospital, and had a new lease on life and a much better prognosis.
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Michael Koziol is the North America correspondent for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former Sydney editor, Sun-Herald deputy editor and a federal political reporter in Canberra.Connect via X or email.
