Trump picks Susie Wiles as his White House chief of staff

By Steve Holland and Alexandra Ulmer

WEST PALM BEACH, Florida (Reuters) - President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday announced that Susie Wiles, one of his two campaign managers, will be his White House chief of staff, entrusting a top position to a political operative who helped the Republican win election.

The appointment was the first of what is expected to be a flurry of staffing announcements as Trump girds for a return to the White House on Jan. 20.

As gatekeeper to the president, the chief of staff typically wields great influence. The person manages White House staff, organizes the president's time and schedule, and maintains contact with other government departments and lawmakers.

The low-key Wiles, 67, will be the first woman to serve as White House chief of staff.

“Susie is tough, smart, innovative, and is universally admired and respected," Trump said in a statement. "I have no doubt that she will make our country proud.”

Trump has been secluded at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, since defeating Democrat Kamala Harris in Tuesday's election.

He is considering a wide array of people for top jobs in his administration, many of them familiar figures from his 2017-2021 presidency, four sources said.

Wiles, a long-time Florida-based political strategist, and fellow campaign manager Chris LaCivita are credited with running a more disciplined operation for Trump’s third presidential bid compared with his past campaigns.

Trump thanked them both during his victory speech early on Wednesday.

"Susie likes to stay in the back, let me tell you," Trump said, as she stood toward the back of the stage. "We call her the ice maiden."

Several people who have worked with Wiles said in interviews on Thursday that she would provide stability and sage counsel to Trump in the White House.

Trump ran through four chiefs of staff - an unusually high number - during his 2017-2021 term as they struggled to rein in the famously undisciplined president.

"Susie is a strong woman and a true leader with a proven track record of getting things done," said Republican strategist Ford O'Connell.

Wiles previously worked on Ronald Reagan's 1980 presidential campaign and helped Florida's Republican Governor Ron DeSantis win election in 2018. She served as a senior adviser on Trump's 2016 and 2020 bids.

Trump chose Wiles over former House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican who is close to Trump and has been a frequent visitor to Mar-a-Lago.

Sources said McCarthy had been in contention as well as Brooke Rollins, who was the former acting director of Trump's Domestic Policy Council.

A fierce Trump ally, New York Republican Representative Elise Stefanik, is under consideration to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, a source familiar with the matter said.

Former U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell, who was an acting intelligence chief in Trump's first term and was with him when he recently met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in New York, is under consideration for secretary of state.

Republican Senator Bill Hagerty, a former U.S. ambassador to Japan, is also under consideration for that position, the sources said.

Hagerty, asked by CNN about being considered for a role in Trump's administration, said, "I'll leave the speculation to the speculators."

(This story has been corrected to fix the name of the strategist in paragraph 13)

(Reporting by Steve Holland and Alexandra Ulmer; Additional reporting by James Oliphant; Editing by Colleen Jenkins, Ross Colvin, Howard Goller and Daniel Wallis)