Vanity Fair writer says Trump White House was more open than Biden’s

Vanity Fair writer Chris Whipple praised President Donald Trump’s White House on Wednesday for being more unprotected and open to the press than the previous administration.

Vanity Fair published a viral report about a series of interviews with Trump’s White House chief of staff, Susie Wiles. In the interview, Wiles said Trump “had an alcoholic personality” and was “operating in the company.” [with] The view that there’s nothing he can’t do.” He also argued that Vice President J.D. Vance is a conspiracy theorist who began supporting Trump out of political expediency rather than actual support.

Some, such as White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, dismissed Whipple’s reporting, arguing that she was insincere and told lies of omission.

Whipple spoke on MS NOW’s “Morning Joe” to rebut the White House response.

“There’s a rule of thumb for young journalists; when your subject starts talking about ‘context,’ ‘disingenuous,’ and ‘framing,’ you know you’re doing something right,” he said. “The reason they don’t mention the content of the track or any of the quotes in it is because they know full well that every word was recorded on tape.”

VANITY FAIR’S SUSIE WILES PROFILE WON THE RIGHT WING APPEAL TOWARD THE WHITE HOUSE FOR GRANTING ACCESS TO THE LIBERAL MAG

But he had special praise for the current administration.

“I spoke with Susie Wiles 11 times, 11 in-depth interviews over the course of about a year. What’s remarkable about this is that she deserves tremendous credit for this. She was free-moving. She was unguarded. She was unlike any other senior White House official I’ve ever encountered,” he said. “It was almost always on the record. You know, I wrote a book about the Biden White House, and everyone always had a deep background. It’s the opposite here.”

He later stated that many of the figures discussed in interviews confirmed that what Wiles said about them was true to some extent.

“How often do you get a confirmation, an endorsement from Donald Trump, who has admitted to having an ‘alcoholic personality.’ He apparently wears it as a badge of honor. J.D. Vance has said he’s a conspiracy theorist, that he only believes in conspiracies that are true,” Whipple said. “Check and check.”

He also claimed that everyone he interviewed and photographed knew how they were doing.

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White House chief of staff Susie Wiles during a roundtable meeting in the White House Cabinet Room on Monday, December 8, 2025, in Washington, DC. (Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“It was very clear from the very beginning. It surprised me, frankly, as I’ve said before, senior White House officials would never do that, but Susie was absolutely on board with it from the very beginning,” he said. “By the way, when I told him, ‘Hey, guess what, Vanity Fair wants to publish this piece,’ he said, ‘Great, congratulations.’ Lo and behold, everyone was on board. Everybody knew the drill.”

Wiles caused a stir when he publicly objected to how the interview was written.

“The article published early this morning is a disingenuously framed hit piece about me and the best President, White House staff and Cabinet in history,” Wiles said in a social media post after the article was first published. “Important context was ignored, and much of what I and others said about the team and the President was left out of the story. After reading it, I assume this was done to paint an extremely chaotic and negative narrative about the President and our team.”

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President Donald Trump is often compared to former President Joe Biden; Former President Joe Biden is praised for being much more transparent and willing to talk to the press in impromptu calls. (Getty Images)

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Fox News Digital reached out to former President Biden and did not immediately receive a response.