A top White House official and key figure in President Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign has acknowledged that “score settling” lies behind many of the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) criminal prosecutions against Trump’s political enemies.

In interviews with Vanity Fair, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles admitted that some cases may “look like retribution” and implied that Trump is directing the department to take certain actions against his enemies should an opportunity present itself.

“I don’t think he wakes up thinking about retribution,” she said. “But when there’s an opportunity, he will go for it.”

That contradicts the administration’s official narrative of the prosecutions. In public, Trump has maintained that he knows very little about the department’s cases against his enemies. Senior DOJ officials have also claimed their prosecutions are driven by the rule of law and not the whims of the president.

The stunning admission from Wiles, the chief architect of Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, comes shortly after a federal judge dismissed the department’s cases against New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI Director James Comey — two of Trump’s leading foes......

Wiles acknowledged that the DOJ’s political prosecution of James Comey also looked like retribution and couldn’t offer any pushback on that view.

“I mean, people could think it does look vindictive,” she said. “I can’t tell you why you shouldn’t think that.”