After GOP Midterm Defeat, Trump Replaces Susie Wiles With Stephen Miller as Chief of Staff

A change at the White House

Trump said Wiles was stepping down and named Miller as her replacement. Wiles was the first woman to serve as chief of staff and had held the position longer than any of Trump’s other chiefs of staff.

Trump praised Miller’s political instincts and management, while saying Wiles had done a good job. He also said he wanted to make a change and that his administration needed to act. Miller has served as deputy chief of staff.

The appointment follows a difficult midterm result for Republicans. Trump has said he will work with the incoming Democratic Congress, but Miller’s promotion suggests the administration intends to stay the course.

Miller’s role and record

Miller helped shape Trump’s immigration agenda and has taken on national security matters as well. In the first Trump administration, he worked on immigration policy, including the Muslim ban and the family-separation policy under zero tolerance.

He began working on Trump’s campaign in 2015 after serving as an aide to Senator Jeff Sessions. In the current administration, Miller has helped develop executive orders and defended the effort to end birthright citizenship, which the Supreme Court rejected.

Miller has also drawn criticism for his language about political opponents. He called Democrats a “domestic extremist organization,” according to the report, and described Alex Pretti as an assassin after Pretti was shot by immigration officers in Minneapolis; Miller later walked back the claim.

Pressure within the party

Republican criticism has grown alongside public frustration about the administration’s policies. Oversight Chairman James Comer said voters were concerned about the war in Iran and raised questions about Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s strategy.

Discontent was also evident among voters interviewed in Mississippi, where one described people as tired of the situation and another criticized politicians for benefiting while others suffer. The Senate contests in Mississippi and Alaska were still too close to call, and Trump said the lawful process would continue.