Analysis: Majewski says Susie Wiles’ staff offered him the Trump Ohio chairmanship and an administration job to quit his 2024 race, in Trump’s name. Trump, he says, never asked.
J.R. Majewski says the offer came from Susie Wiles’ staff in early 2024: quit the Republican primary for Ohio’s 9th Congressional District, and he would be “chairman of Trump Ohio,” then could “come work in the admin afterwards” (15:48–15:57 in his video).
He says the request came in President Trump’s name, but never from Trump. When he asked why Trump had not called him himself, Majewski says, Wiles’ staff told him, “He can’t ask you directly, JR,” and “we have to give him plausible deniability” (15:31–15:44). Trump, Majewski says, never asked him to quit (17:53–17:56).
Majewski did quit. He suspended his campaign on March 2, 2024, after House Republican leaders had worked behind the scenes to push him out, Politico reported at the time; that reporting did not name Wiles. The Trump Ohio chairmanship never came, he says (23:33–23:41). Wiles, who co-managed Trump’s 2024 campaign, has not publicly responded. The account of what her staff said is Majewski’s, and no news outlet has confirmed it.
He tells the story in a new video he is promoting on X.
“Out of BILLIONS of Videos on YouTube this is the #91 Most HYPED Video on the Platform,” Majewski wrote on X on Nov. 11, linking to the video and tagging pollster Rich Baris.
Out of BILLIONS of Videos on YouTube this is the #91 Most HYPED Video on the Platform
@Peoples_Pundit
— @JRMajewski, Nov. 11, 2026
The 25-minute video, “Susie Wiles and the GOP Establishment EXPOSED: How They Work Behind Trump’s Back,” was posted Nov. 10 on Majewski’s own YouTube channel, which showed more than 107,000 views by late afternoon Nov. 11. Majewski narrates it in his own words. It lands days after Trump announced that Wiles would leave the chief of staff job and move to his political operation, with Stephen Miller taking over as chief of staff.
On Nov. 10, Majewski had pointed the same video at Calley Means, the former Robert F. Kennedy Jr. adviser who made his own accusations against Wiles on Joe Rogan’s podcast:
Hey @calleymeans… I have a similar story about Susie… lying to a Trump endorsed candidate, telling them @realDonaldTrump wants them to drop from a Congressional race. If he only knew…
— @JRMajewski, Nov. 10, 2026
@Peoples_Pundit
The post does not name the candidate. The video, which the post links to, makes clear it is Majewski himself.
What Majewski says happened
Majewski was the Republican front-runner in the 2024 primary for Ohio’s 9th Congressional District, the Toledo-area seat held by Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur. In the video, he says a February poll had him at 49%, with former state Rep. Craig Riedel at 23% and state Rep. Derek Merrin, the candidate House Republican leaders recruited, at 20% (13:23–13:36). Politics Elections could not independently confirm that poll.
That is when, he says, the calls began.
“My phone starts ringing and the calls are coming from the one place I would never question, Susie Wiles, her staff,” Majewski says in the video (14:06–14:16). At the time, Wiles was running Trump’s 2024 campaign as co-campaign manager, Reuters reported. “And the message that they gave me was quite simple. President Trump wants you to step out of the race,” he says (14:19–14:24).
According to Majewski, her staff warned him that Kaptur could not be beaten and that if the House majority came down to one seat, “you’ll be the guy who costs the President his majority” (14:39–14:43).
He says the pitch did not match what he heard from Trump. When an attack ad on his military service went up in the district, Majewski says, he reached the president, who told him he would take care of it, “And that ad came down” (15:05–15:13). “He doesn’t say one word about wanting me to step out,” Majewski says (15:16–15:18).
That, he says, is when he asked Wiles’ people why Trump had not told him himself, and got the “plausible deniability” answer and the Trump Ohio offer. Majewski says the staffers told him the reason Trump could not ask directly was that it “could cause a backlash with the grassroots because of your reputation in the district” (15:33–15:38).
Majewski also says that on Feb. 19, 2024, House Republican leaders went to Mar-a-Lago and asked Trump to talk him out of the race, and that “multiple people told me that President Trump said, no” (16:04–16:42).
The text to Wiles
Majewski says Wiles’ people kept calling and, on Feb. 21, 2024, told him to put it in writing to Wiles. In the video, he reads the text he says he sent her at 9:46 that morning. It begins (17:20–17:31):
“Good morning, Susie. This is JR Majewski. I just want you and the president to know that I got into this race in Ohio 9 out of my support for him. And that being said, I would do anything he asks of me.”
He says Wiles replied, “thanks JR, appreciate the note,” and told him she was passing it along, “not to the president, but to one of his campaign advisors” (17:39–17:50). He does not name the adviser. “I would do anything he asks of me, but he never asked,” Majewski says (17:53–17:56).
The leak he blames on Wiles
Days later, Politico reported that Majewski was seriously considering dropping out, citing conversations and text messages it had reviewed, and that he was in talks for a position with Trump. Majewski says in the video that he had discussed that with only two people, his wife and one person on the Trump campaign. “I believe Susie and her team put that story out to box me in,” he says (19:22–19:27). He offers no document showing who gave Politico the texts, and Politico did not name its sources.
On March 2, 2024, he suspended his campaign. “I walked away from a 26-point lead. Now, that was my decision. I own it. I made it because I believed her,” he says (20:43–20:50).
| Date | What happened | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Jan. 25, 2024 | Speaker Johnson endorses Merrin | Punchbowl News |
| Feb. 19, 2024 | House GOP leaders visit Mar-a-Lago, ask Trump for help | Majewski video (16:04); Politico Playbook (visit, no date given) |
| Feb. 21, 2024 | Majewski texts Wiles, she replies | Majewski video (17:17) |
| Feb. 27, 2024 | Politico reports he may drop out | Politico |
| March 2, 2024 | Majewski suspends his campaign | Politico |
| March 16, 2024 | Trump apologizes to him at Ohio rally | Majewski video (21:24); The Hill |
| March 19, 2024 | Merrin wins the GOP primary | AP; Dan Conston on X |
| Nov. 5, 2024 | Kaptur beats Merrin by 2,382 votes | Lucas County BOE (official) |
| Nov. 3, 2026 | Kaptur beats Merrin again | Ohio Secretary of State (unofficial) |
Timeline compiled by Politics Elections from the sources listed. Wiles-related entries are Majewski’s account.
What the 2024 record shows
Reporting at the time backs up much of Majewski’s story about the pressure, though not the part about Wiles.
Politico reported in February 2024 that House Republican leaders had been “desperate to stop J.R. Majewski from winning the nomination.” When he left the race, Politico called it welcome news for “the House Republicans leaders who have maneuvered behind the scenes to nudge him out of the primary out of fear he would lose the general election” to Kaptur. Politico’s Playbook reported that NRCC Chairman Richard Hudson and House Speaker Mike Johnson had worked behind the scenes to pressure Majewski out, including by appealing to Trump for help during a visit to Mar-a-Lago. That matches the Mar-a-Lago meeting Majewski describes.
The endorsements and the money lined up the same way. Speaker Johnson endorsed Merrin on Jan. 25, 2024, and NRCC Chairman Hudson said that month he did not believe Majewski could win the general election, Punchbowl News reported. The Congressional Leadership Fund, the super PAC endorsed by House Republican leadership, said it spent more than $750,000 on TV, digital, mail and radio ads to support Merrin in the primary. Its independent-expenditure reports to the Federal Election Commission show most of that money was spent in February, before Majewski left the race. None of these sources ties Wiles to the endorsement or the spending.
Playbook also reported that Majewski confirmed he had been in touch with Trump’s team, but insisted Trump did not tell him to drop out. He said the same thing in a statement at the time, saying Trump did not ask him to leave the race, the Columbus Dispatch reported. Days earlier, he had blamed pressure and attacks from what he called the Washington establishment machine, the Washington Post reported. His story now is the same on that point: Trump never asked. What is new is who he says did.
No 2024 report found by Politics Elections names Wiles or her staff as the source of the pressure. The contemporaneous reporting names House leadership. The claims about Wiles’ staff, the “plausible deniability” line, the Trump Ohio offer and the leak rest on Majewski’s account. He shows the text exchange on screen, but no reporting has independently confirmed it.
Trump, for his part, publicly stood by Majewski. At a rally near Dayton two weeks after he left the race, Trump said, “JR was a hero and is a hero, and they hit him very hard with false stuff that he wasn’t a hero,” and added, “on behalf of our country, I’d like to apologize to JR Majewski because you were treated very unfairly” (rally clip in the video, 21:14–21:31; also reported by The Hill).
On primary night, Dan Conston, president of the Congressional Leadership Fund, the super PAC aligned with House Republican leaders, thanked Majewski for getting out:
The biggest loser tonight? Democrats. Four months ago just about no one would have bet on us to win this primary. Congrats to @derekmerrin who can end Kaptur’s career. A major blow to Dems. And JR Majewski did a huge thing for the party stepping aside.
— @danconston, March 19, 2024
Wiles’ record
Majewski’s account of Wiles’ staff is unconfirmed. Her record is documented in lobbying disclosures, campaign finance filings and news reports.
A registered lobbyist for corporate clients
Wiles registered to lobby for 30 clients from 2017 to 2020 at Ballard Partners, the firm of Trump fundraiser Brian Ballard, The Hill reported, citing federal lobbying disclosures. Her clients included the tobacco company SI Group Client Services, which has fought Food and Drug Administration restrictions on tobacco products; the Pebble Partnership, which sued the Environmental Protection Agency over its mining project in Alaska’s Bristol Bay; and the waste company Republic Services. Her registered clients at Ballard also included General Motors and the gas company Eagle LNG Partners, Sludge reported. Ballard is now a target of Calley Means, who has accused Wiles and the firm of putting corporate interests ahead of voters.
In 2022, Wiles became a co-chair of Mercury Public Affairs. In 2023, she registered there to lobby on FDA regulations for SI Group, the maker of Swisher Sweets cigars. She was listed as a lobbyist on that account as recently as the first quarter of 2024, The Hill reported, the same months she was running Trump’s campaign and the months in which Majewski says her staff were calling him. Mercury filed a report on her Swisher lobbying only after Sludge asked about the missing disclosures, Sludge reported.
Checks to Jeb Bush, Romney and a Democrat
Federal Election Commission records show a $2,700 contribution on Aug. 18, 2015, from a Susan Wiles of Ponte Vedra, listed as owner of Wiles Boselli LLC, to Jeb Bush’s 2016 campaign, Trump’s rival in that year’s Republican primary. FEC records also show $2,500 in 2011 to Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign and two $500 contributions, in 2018 and 2021, to the campaign of Democratic Rep. Al Lawson of Florida from a Susan Wiles of Ponte Vedra Beach who listed her employer as Right Coast Strategies, the Florida consulting firm Wiles founded, according to the Daily Beast.
Earlier in 2011, before those Romney contributions, Wiles managed the 2012 presidential campaign of former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, who had just served as President Obama’s ambassador to China. She left that job in July 2011, The New York Times reported.
| Year | Record | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Managed Huntsman campaign; gave to Romney | NYT; FEC |
| 2015 | $2,700 to Jeb Bush campaign | FEC |
| 2017–2020 | Lobbied for 30 Ballard Partners clients | The Hill (LDA filings) |
| 2018, 2021 | $500 each to Democratic Rep. Al Lawson | FEC |
| 2019 | Dropped by Trump campaign at DeSantis’ urging | Politico |
| 2023–2024 | Mercury lobbyist for Swisher cigar maker | The Hill; Sludge |
Compiled by Politics Elections from the sources linked above. FEC entries are listed under the name Susan Wiles.
Pushed out once before, after a leak
Wiles has been accused of a leak before. In 2019, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, whose 2018 campaign she had helped guide to victory, pushed Trump’s reelection campaign to drop her as its top Florida adviser, and the campaign did, Politico reported. DeSantis blamed Wiles for the leak of internal documents from his political operation, Politico reported. She also left Ballard Partners at the time, Politico reported. DeSantis said at the time that the president had asked him to get the state party in order, Politico reported.
Keeping MAGA voices out
On the 2024 campaign, Wiles quietly worked to keep some outspoken conservatives out of Trump’s orbit, or to ease them out once they got access, Axios reported. When Trump wanted to hire activist Laura Loomer in 2023, Wiles sat in on the interview and made sure Loomer was not hired, Axios reported. As chief of staff, Wiles described Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought as a right-wing zealot in on-record interviews with Vanity Fair published in December 2025.
Who controlled the 2024 campaign’s money
Majewski’s accusations are aimed at Wiles’ operation. The video’s YouTube description also lists Chris LaCivita, her co-manager on Trump’s 2024 campaign, among the people featured, but Majewski does not name LaCivita in the narration, and no reporting ties him to the effort to push Majewski out. The record below is separate from Majewski’s account. It shows how much of the campaign’s money the two controlled, and how much flowed to them.
In February 2024, Axios reported that LaCivita was in line to steer spending for both the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee. LaCivita would sign off on key spending decisions, including which vendors the RNC chose for mailings, polling and TV ads, and he and Wiles were expected to make budget recommendations for both the RNC and the campaign, Axios reported. Inside the campaign, Wiles controlled the checkbook, one person close to the campaign told New York magazine that month.
LaCivita’s consulting firm, Advancing Strategies, took in $19.2 million from Trump’s political operation over two years, the Daily Beast reported, through the campaign and two PACs, with the payments going to the firm rather than to LaCivita personally. His contracts gave the firm a cut of the campaign’s TV and digital ads, direct mail and other spending, and retainers that at times reached $75,000 a month, the outlet reported. A former Federal Election Commission chairman told the Daily Beast he had never heard of a package that rich in a presidential campaign. Wiles was paid $685,000 through Right Coast Strategies, with monthly retainers of $25,000 to $30,000, after a campaign official had first told the outlet she was a volunteer, the Daily Beast reported. (LaCivita called the story “fabricated nonsense” and sued the Daily Beast over its reporting. The suit was settled and dismissed in January 2026 after the outlet added a note saying it had corrected and clarified its compensation reporting; the figures above are from the current version of the story.)
The seat they wanted, lost twice
The establishment pick did not deliver. Kaptur beat Merrin by 2,382 votes in November 2024, according to the official results certified by the Lucas County Board of Elections. In the Nov. 3 rematch, Kaptur won again, according to unofficial results from the Ohio Secretary of State. Results are not final until certified.
| Race | Kaptur (D) | Merrin (R) |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 general (official) | 181,098 (48.3%) | 178,716 (47.6%) |
| 2026 general (unofficial) | 159,306 (52.7%) | 142,830 (47.2%) |
Ohio’s 9th Congressional District. 2024: Lucas County Board of Elections certified results (Libertarian Tom Pruss, 4.1%, not shown). 2026: Ohio Secretary of State unofficial results, report generated 11:03 p.m. ET Nov. 10, 2026 (175 write-in votes not shown); results are not final until certified.
“That seat they wanted so badly, they lost it twice,” Majewski says in the video (24:26–24:31). He says the Trump Ohio call he was promised never came (23:33–23:41).
Wiles has not publicly responded
As of 5:45 p.m. ET Nov. 11, Politics Elections found no public response from Wiles to Majewski’s video, either on her X account or in news reports.
That move is what worries Majewski. “The only time I was ever told to quit didn’t come from him, came from Susie Wiles. And now she’s heading back to his political operation,” he says (24:58–25:07). “Based on what Susie’s done to me and others, I’m concerned that she might not be the right person to lead us where this party needs to be” (25:24–25:34).
He is not the only one going after Wiles. Means has accused her of throwing the president under the bus, most recently in a Nov. 9 post on X that took aim at Ballard:
I want everyone in the White House to know that Susie is executing a systematic strategy to throw President Trump under the bus.
— @calleymeans, Nov. 9, 2026 (excerpt)
What the video does not show
The video also does not name the Wiles staffers who Majewski says called him, or the campaign adviser who he says received his text. Until those people are named, or Wiles answers, the account of what her team did rests on Majewski’s word and the text he put on screen.
Quotes from the video are from Majewski’s narration unless noted, with times in the video (mm:ss).
