President Donald Trump on Friday tapped Stephen Miller, the hard-line aide behind his mass-deportation campaign, as White House chief of staff, replacing Susie Wiles three days after Republicans lost both the House and Senate in the midterm elections.
In a Truth Social post, Trump said Miller, now deputy chief of staff, would take over Monday, Nov. 9, and called him one of his most trusted advisors. Wiles, he wrote, will shift to the Trump Political Operation.
Two officials said Wiles offered Trump her resignation on Thursday night. Three people familiar with the matter linked her exit to the party's election losses, while another White House official described the parting as very amicable.
Speaking to reporters as he left the White House for Cape Canaveral, Florida, Trump praised Wiles' work but said he wanted a change and that sometimes in life you have to make moves. He described Miller as very good politically and a great manager.
Wiles announced on X that Friday was her final day, calling her White House service the honor of a lifetime and pledging that her commitment to Trump and his mission would not change even as her role did.
Democrats promise a fight
The shake-up lands as Democrats prepare to take over Congress in January after netting seven Senate seats, with Alaska and Mississippi still counting, and claiming 253 of the 435 House seats as of Friday.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said the pick showed Trump had learned nothing from his defeat and promised that Democratic majorities would fight Miller at every turn.
Stephen Miller is the architect of the most barbaric, inhumane policies of this administration. Trump couldn't have made a worse choice.
Chuck Schumer, Senate Democratic leader
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, likely the next speaker, branded Miller a dangerous xenophobe with American blood on his hands and demanded that Trump fire him rather than promote him.
Rep. Robert Garcia, in line to chair the House Oversight Committee, said Miller should lawyer up. Oversight Democrats, he said, would keep investigating Miller's misconduct while fighting his policies in Congress and the courts.
Trump has said in recent days he believes he can work with the incoming Democratic leadership. But a Trump ally said Miller will be combative with lawmakers, especially over any investigations Democrats aim at the administration.
Republicans welcomed the move. Vice President JD Vance said Miller will do great things, communications director Steven Cheung called him the Trump agenda's biggest advocate, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth hailed the choice on X.
A loyalist since 2016
A former aide to Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, Miller joined Trump's long-shot 2016 campaign as a speechwriter and stayed at his side after the 2020 loss. As deputy chief of staff he carries a wide portfolio but is most closely identified with immigration.
He has a reputation as a demanding boss. In May 2025 he berated ICE officials over what he considered weak arrest and deportation totals, threatened to fire them and pressed for 3,000 detentions a day.
Miller stepped back from his frequent right-wing media appearances in January, when federal agents killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis, Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Soon after the shooting he had wrongly labeled Pretti a domestic terrorist, later blaming faulty information from Customs and Border Patrol.
Wiles, 69, ran Trump's 2024 campaign and became the first woman to serve as chief of staff. Her 21 months in the post made her the longest-serving of his chiefs; he went through four in his first term. Last month, Trump said there was zero chance she would soon be replaced. She disclosed a breast cancer diagnosis in March and said in September she was cancer-free.
Her exit follows a string of Justice Department resignations since Election Day, including John Eisenberg, who led the National Security Division; Harmeet Dhillon of the civil rights division; and Jason Reding Quiñones, who oversaw conspiracy investigations tied to Trump's foes.
