David GilmourMay 8th, 2026, 6:59 pm

An email from President Donald Trump’s White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles ordering staff to stop leaking to the press was leaked to the press on Friday.

In the directive, written in late March and obtained by Politico’s West Wing Playbook, Wiles warned that “no staff member within the Executive Office of the President is permitted to speak with members of the news media without the explicit approval of the White House Communications Office.”

“Unauthorized leaks will not be tolerated and are subject to sanction up to and including termination,” she continued.

She added: “Violation of this policy can result in significant disruption to ongoing operations and can potentially endanger missions and activities of national significance.”

One person familiar told Politico that Wiles had become “generally very frustrated with leaks,” though the directive was not tied to any single incident.

The crackdown is reportedly part of a broader effort by Wiles to impose tighter operational discipline across the administration. In a comment to the outlet, White House spokesperson Liz Huston defended the email and said staff are subject to “a zero-tolerance policy against speaking to the media without explicit authorization” from the Communications team.

Wiles, whose candid interview with Vanity Fair in December opened up a firestorm, addressed her now-guarded approach to the press on Thursday while accepting the “Woman of Valor” award at the Independent Women’s 19th Awards Gala.

During the sitdown, Wiles was asked whether she still backchannels to reporters, she joked: “And if I do, I get in trouble at the White House. I have a couple of friends in the reporter ranks, but we keep it to friendship.”

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