You don’t get to be Donald Trump’s right hand by accident. Just ask Susie Wiles, the woman who turned Florida politics into a personal ATM while somehow staying out of the spotlight. She’s the kind of operator who can lose a fight with Ron DeSantis, get fired from Trump’s 2020 campaign, and still wind up running the White House five years later. And along the way? She quietly stacked up $5 million.
How? Because in Washington, real money isn’t in the title. It’s in knowing where the levers are. Wiles, the sharp-witted political strategist who became Donald Trump’s first female White House Chief of Staff in January 2025, didn’t get rich from a single paycheck. She built that fortune the old-fashioned way: decades of hustling through the backrooms of political consulting, lobbying, and campaign wars where the real cash changes hands. Let’s break it down.
Inside Susie Wiles’ $5 Million Net Worth as of 2025
Her income streams are as varied as her career twists. As a top-tier political consultant, Wiles commanded fees between $250,000 and $1 million per year for steering major campaigns and lobbying efforts. That’s not chump change. For context, her work as co-chair of Trump’s 2016 Florida campaign and later as CEO of his Save America PAC cemented her reputation as a GOP heavyweight. The PAC alone raked in $108.7 million under her watch from 2021 to 2022, a staggering jump from its $31.5 million haul the previous cycle.
Then there’s her Trump-era earnings. Wiles wasn’t just a behind-the-scenes player; she was a key architect of Trump’s 2024 victory, a role that likely netted her six or even seven figures over multiple election cycles. During the 2024 campaign, she and Chris LaCivita were the duo Trump name-dropped as the ones “running the show” after sidelining infamously chaotic aides like Corey Lewandowski.
Her reward? A historic promotion to Chief of Staff, a job that pays $183,000 annually—the max salary for any White House aide. That figure’s no surprise. Trump’s first-term chiefs, like Reince Priebus and John Kelly, earned $179,700, while interim COS Mick Mulvaney pulled in over $200,000 by doubling as budget director. Wiles’ remuneration is a drop in her wealth bucket, but the prestige? Priceless.
Before the White House gig, Wiles padded her bank account in Florida’s lobbying trenches. From 2011 to 2022, she worked for Ballard Partners, a powerhouse firm where she repped clients like General Motors and coal giant Alliance Resource Partners. Later, at Mercury Public Affairs, she lobbied for Swisher International, a tobacco company that paid Mercury $120,000 in 2024 to push back on FDA regulations.
Her lobbying career wasn’t just domestic. She registered for 42 clients between 2017 and 2024, including Nigeria’s government and a Venezuelan media company, Globovisión. Those deals added up. Ballard and Mercury collectively paid her firms $5.6 million in lobbying fees, with her cut likely a hefty slice.
But Susie Wiles’ financial story isn’t all glossy triumphs. Her 35-year marriage to Lanny Wiles, a Republican consultant 14 years her senior, ended in a 2017 divorce riddled with money drama. Back in 1991, the couple filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, listing $3 million in debts to creditors like North Carolina real estate tycoon JC Faw ($353,476) and the city of Wilkesboro ($725,000).
Tax liens haunted them for years, with seven federal filings between 1991 and 2019 totaling over $300,000. In a 2024 DailyMail interview, Wiles called Lanny’s business moves “poor decisions” that “broke” their marriage. The divorce settlement gave her their Florida home’s sale proceeds and a 2014 Mercedes, while Lanny kept a Porsche 911.
Investments and assets round out her fortune. With decades in politics, Wiles likely holds real estate and stocks, though she’s kept specifics private. Her daughters, Katie and Caroline, followed her into lobbying, with Katie’s promotion at Continental Strategy (a firm tied to Trump’s win) and Caroline’s VP role at Rubin Turnbull & Associates hinting at a family knack for influence peddling. Even setbacks, like Caroline’s 2017 White House resignation after failing an FBI background check, didn’t dent the Wiles brand.
So, $5 million? It’s a figure built on grit, controversy, and a knack for surviving Trumpworld. From bankruptcy to the West Wing, Wiles’ finances mirror her career: unpredictable, resilient, and always in the room where it happens.
