Chris Whipple

It was day 56 of the Trump presidency.

I said to her, look, Susie, do you ever go into the Oval and sit the president down and say, look, why don't we cut out this revenge and retribution and focus on governing?

And she said, yes, I've had that conversation.

And she said, we have a loose agreement that the revenge and retribution will end, I'm paraphrasing now, after 90 days.

Six months later, seven months later, don't hold me to the exact day, I said, do you remember when you told me months ago that you had an agreement that this would end after 90 days?

And she said, oh, well, I don't think he's on a retribution tour.

But when I pressed her again, she confessed immediately.

that the Letitia James case, for example, oh, well, that would be one, a case of retribution.

So it's been this kind of journey from Susie Wiles thinking initially, early on, that she could have these discussions with Trump and get him to agree to these things.

But in the course of this

year-long journey as White House chief of staff, I could see that by the end, she was all in.

She was all in not only on MAGA, but she was all in on pursuing Trump's enemies, having them prosecuted.

And I don't think that was the case initially.

I think she knew that this would be a problem.

I can't read her mind, Terry, but what I do find really fascinating is that these kinds of conversations that she seemed to be having early on with Trump.

For example, on day one, she argued with him that, are you sure you want to pardon all of the January 6th protesters?

And she said, maybe we should be more selective.

She lost that argument.

She had a so-called promise, a loose agreement, as she put it, that the revenge and retribution would end after 90 days.

They had that conversation.