Trump Aides Susie Wiles and Natalie Harp Descend Into Humiliating Catfight

Photo Illustration by Victoria Sunday/The Daily Beast/Getty Images/Reuters A bitter power struggle between two of the most influential women in President Donald Trump’s inner circle has spilled into public view, exposing fresh turmoil inside the White House.

On The Daily Beast Podcast , the Beast’s executive editor Hugh Dougherty said Politico Playbook reports about Susie Wiles, 69, and Natalie Harp, 35, exposed tensions between the White House chief of staff and the president’s “human printer” amid a tumultuous time in MAGA world.

On Thursday, the widely read newsletter reported that Trump, 80, had been phoning allies to solicit their opinions of Wiles, fueling speculation that the president was considering ousting one of his most trusted longtime advisers.

The outlet reported then that Trump suggested several replacements for Wiles, including Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, special envoy Steve Witkoff, housing chief Bill Pulte, former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, and New York Yankees President Randy Levine.

On Friday, Playbook reported that Harp had printed out its Thursday edition and showed it to Trump, causing a “freakout” in the White House as the president “blew up” over bad headlines about his chief of staff.

“The White House is in a state of panic,” an insider said.

“Susie is looking over her shoulder, trying to solicit people to go out and say good things about her and her team and make it seem like everything is fine.

It’s not.” Meanwhile, according to Playbook, Wiles and her allies “burn[ed] up phones around town” to put out the fire.

Trump insisted in a statement that all was well between him and Wiles, declaring, “TOTAL FAKE NEWS Politico doesn’t care about facts, integrity, or honest journalism — it’s why I kicked them out of the White House!” “Susie Wiles is my loyal and longest serving Chief of Staff — there is a reason for that,” he continued.

“She has been with me since the beginning, is my trusted advisor, and has my COMPLETE confidence.” But the dramatic sequence of events spoke volumes about the relationship between Wiles and Harp, Dougherty told host Joanna Coles.

“We always knew that she printed out this crazy, crazy slop from the internet,” Dougherty said of Harp.

“But this isn’t crazy slop.

This is clearly very well reported journalism.

And she printed it out, and it’s torn the whole situation up.