Donald Trump’s White House is bracing for a major shake-up after his midterm bloodbath, with chief of staff Susie Wiles leaving the administration and making way for her controversial deputy Stephen Miller.
Trump announced Friday that Miller would take over from Wiles on Monday, November 9, with his chief of staff moving to the president’s political operation.
“I am pleased to announce that Mr. Stephen Miller, the current Deputy Chief of Staff of the Trump Administration, and one of my most trusted advisors, will become the Chief of Staff starting Monday, November 9, 2026,” Trump posted to Truth Social.
“Susie Wiles, who has done an outstanding job, will be moving over to the Trump Political Operation. I want to thank her for her service as Chief of Staff — She has done a great job!”
Wiles is the latest woman to leave the administration, following in the footsteps of former press secretary Karoline Leavitt, former Attorney General Pam Bondi, former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, former Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer and former Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.
But the elevation of Miller is likely to prove deeply controversial, given his central role in engineering Trump’s aggressive mass deportation agenda and some of the administration’s most divisive immigration policies.
In a post on X shortly after the president’s Truth Social announcement, Wiles, 69, said that, “serving President Trump in the White House has been the honor of a lifetime.”
“I’m so proud to have been a part of what we’ve accomplished together from securing our border and cutting taxes to strengthening our economy and putting America First,” she said.
“More than anything, I’m grateful for the extraordinary people I’ve had the privilege of working alongside. While my role may be changing, my commitment to the President and the mission never will.”
The announcement rocked Washington on Friday afternoon, although it was not entirely surprising. Sources say Trump had reacted angrily to the midterm wipeout, which saw Democrats regain control of both the House and the Senate, and flip longstanding Republican strongholds such as Texas, Kansas and South Carolina.
In response, it is understood that Wiles, who has been with the president for years, offered her resignation.
Asked later why he decided to change his position, given he recently said there was “zero chance” of replacing Wiles, Trump said she had done a “great job” but “sometimes in life you’ve gotta make moves.”
“Stephen’s been with me from the beginning. He gets it, he’s very good politically and…. he’ll do a great job. Great manager," he told reporters on the South Lawn before departing the White House.
Wiles’ departure marks a major turnaround for the veteran Florida political strategist known as “Ice Maiden”, who helped engineer Trump’s 2024 election victory and became the first woman to serve as White House chief of staff.
Wiles had already been facing mounting pressure from within MAGA world, with some Trump allies demanding she be fired in the wake of Tuesday’s rout.
Another controversy dogging her was the revelation that two of Trump’s closest political operatives, James Blair and Chris LaCivita, had traveled to Bosnia to undertake lucrative consulting work while Republicans were fighting to save their congressional majorities. Wiles’ daughter also became embroiled in the scrutiny over her own connections to a lobbying firm representing the territory’s government.
Tensions also emerged when Trump bypassed Wiles to appoint Leavitt’s disastrous replacement, Katie Zacharia, who lasted five days. Miller, housing official Bill Pulte, and EPA administrator Lee Zelden reportedly positioned themselves to replace the chief of staff.
For many political observers, Miller’s elevation signals the start of a more aggressive approach from the White House as Trump braces for lame-duck status when the new Congress officially begins in January.
In addition to Trump’s deportation strategy, Miller was the driving force behind the first Trump administration’s family separation policy, which led to thousands of migrant children being separated from their parents at the southern border, as well as the so-called “Muslim travel ban.”
He was among those who labeled Minneapolis nurse Alex Pretti a “domestic terrorist” after federal agents shot him dead, merely weeks after another U.S. citizen, Renee Good, was also fatally shot by immigration authorities.
He has also pushed for invoking the 1807 Insurrection Act and deploying federal military forces to American cities to deal with immigration crackdowns and protests. His wife, podcaster Katie Miller, is also a hardline conservative and polarizing figure.
“With Miller we see Trump’s entirely predictable response, trying to force feed the country what it just spit up,” said Josh Marshall, founder of the progressive political website Talking Points Memo.
White House communications director Steven Cheung took a different view.
“Stephen Miller is a Trump OG, someone who has been with the President since the very beginning,” he said.
“There is no bigger advocate for the Trump agenda than Stephen, and he will help the Administration deliver on monumental victories for the rest of this historic second term.”
The White House is not the only place that has been rocked by departures in the wake of the midterms. Three senior Justice Department officials have also resigned since Tuesday’s Republican wipeout: Civil Rights Division chief Harmeet Dhillon, National Security Division head John Eisenberg and Jason Reding Quiñones, the US attorney for southern Florida.
But Trump himself does not appear to be accepting blame for the shocking result, despite making himself the center of the campaign and being responsible for many of the things that outraged voters, such as soarings costs and the war in Iran.
“It’s just not in his psychological makeup to reflect on his own possible mistakes or fallibilities,” said Dr Vincent Greenwood, the director of the Washington Center for Cognitive Therapy, who has been studying Trump for years.
“He’s hardwired to blame others.”
