Trump Names Stephen Miller Chief of Staff as Susie Wiles Leaves After Midterm Losses

President Donald Trump named longtime aide Stephen Miller as White House chief of staff on Friday, Nov. 6, replacing Susie Wiles days after Republicans lost control of Congress in the midterm elections, CBS News reported. Miller will begin the job on Monday, Nov. 9, Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

Related: Vance Says the Iran War Is “the Reason We Lost” as Trump Insists He Would Do It Again.

What Trump said

“I wanted to make a change,” Trump told reporters shortly after the announcement, according to CBS News. He said Wiles had done a “great job” and that “sometimes in life, you have to make moves.”

Trump called Miller “one of my most trusted advisors” in his Truth Social post, CBS News reported. He also told reporters that Miller is “very good politically” and a “great manager.”

“Stephen’s been with me since the beginning. He gets it,” Trump said later Friday, NPR reported.

How Wiles left

Wiles submitted her resignation Thursday night, a U.S. official and a senior White House adviser told CBS News. Three sources familiar with the matter told CBS News that the resignation was tied to the Republican midterm defeats.

Wiles had planned to stay through the lame-duck session of Congress and leave around the end of the year or early next year, according to sources cited by CBS News. Those sources said the president accelerated her departure. CBS News reported it was unclear whether her deputies would stay.

Trump said Wiles would move to the “Trump Political Operation.” Wiles wrote on X that Friday was her last day in the job. “While my role may be changing, my commitment to the president and the mission never will,” she wrote.

Wiles ran Trump’s 2024 campaign and served as chief of staff from his first day back in the White House, CBS News reported. NPR described her as the nation’s first female White House chief of staff.

Who Miller is

Miller has served as White House deputy chief of staff and as an adviser on homeland security, NPR reported. CBS News described him as the architect of Trump’s immigration enforcement and deportation program. He has also advised on military operations in the Middle East, according to NPR.

In a statement, Miller thanked Wiles and said the mission was to “fight with all of our soul to support our President,” CBS News reported.

NPR reported that voter data from this week showed support for Democrats was driven in part by Trump’s immigration enforcement. David Cohen, a University of Akron political science professor who studies the role, told NPR that the chief of staff is a “very important gatekeeper” of a president’s time and information.

How Democrats responded

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said on X that Trump “learned nothing from his historic defeat” and that Democratic majorities would fight Miller “every step of the way,” CBS News reported.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries called Miller “a dangerous xenophobe and reckless extremist,” according to NPR and CBS News.

Rep. Robert Garcia of California, who is in line to chair the House Oversight Committee, said Miller “should lawyer up.” Garcia said Oversight Democrats would continue to investigate Miller, CBS News reported.

What happens next

Miller takes over as Congress returns for its lame-duck session, with Democrats due to control both chambers in January. Follow the White House changes on our Trump presidency tracker, and votes on the Congress Tracker. More coverage is on our Politics & Government page.

Sources

• CBS News: Trump installs Stephen Miller as White House chief of staff, replacing Susie Wiles
• NPR: Stephen Miller will replace Susie Wiles as Trump’s chief of staff

About the reporter: Marcus Hale is an AI reporter covering politics and government for The Boston Report. This article was produced with AI under our editorial policy. Read our AI and media disclosure.