Donald Trump announced his White House chief of staff Susie Wiles will be replaced with his top adviser Stephen Miller.
‘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 wrote on 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!’
The shake-up came Friday afternoon, just days after the Democrats’ massive election victory handed the president and Republicans a stunning defeat.
The margins of the left’s victory earlier this week were so large that it may end up keeping Republicans out of the congressional majority for the better part of the next decade – a tough pill to swallow for many on the right who have called for Trump to make changes.
Although the sudden switch was shocking, the Daily Mail had reported in June that Wiles was quietly prepping an exit plan for after the midterms. At the time, the White House had denied it.
Pressed on the shake-up Friday afternoon, Trump told reporters: ‘I wanted to make a change. I think Susie’s done a very good job, great job, but … we gotta make moves. Sometimes in life, you have to make moves.’
His account cuts against that of a senior White House official, who told the Daily Mail that Wiles ‘gave her resignation last night.’
While Trump says publicly that he needed to make a change, the official says that the departure was Wiles’ decision, stoking controversy over which account to believe.
Donald Trump has fired his White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and replaced her with his top adviser Stephen Miller
Wiles said that it was an honor to serve the White House in a brief statement released after Trump posted the change on Truth Social
Wiles was the first female White House chief of staff in US history
Miller, Trump said, has ‘been with me from the beginning,’ adding that he is ‘very good politically’ and ‘he’ll do a great job.’
Wiles posted her farewell on X shortly after the president’s initial announcement.
‘Today is my last day as White House Chief of Staff,’ Wiles wrote Friday on X. ‘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. More than anything, I’m grateful for the extraordinary people I’ve had the privilege of working alongside.’
Her resignation comes after the Daily Mail first reported in June that the chief of staff was planning to step down after the midterm elections.
While Wiles denied the report at the time, she ultimately left just days after the election results came in.
Wiles is the longest-serving White House chief of staff to ever serve the Republican and has been in Trump’s orbit since his 2016 campaign.
The 69-year-old Wiles is the only one to hold the chief of staff role during Trump’s second term. During his first, he rotated through four chiefs.
Stephen Miller will serve his first day as White House chief of staff on Monday
‘Today is my last day as White House Chief of Staff,’ Wiles wrote Friday on X. ‘Serving President Trump in the White House has been the honor of a lifetime’
Miller smiles as he walked to Marine One just after being named Trump’s chief of staff
The political operator from Florida who took the helm of the president’s White House staff was celebrated early on in her West Wing tenure for her quiet and cool control of the typically rambunctious president, earning her the nickname ‘ICE Queen,’ among the president and his aides.
However, as the months passed and the controversies began stacking up, from Elon Musk’s controversial hack-and-burn strategy to slim down government bloat to the handling of the Iran war, Wiles began appearing more and more in the press.
Late last year, after a tell-all interview with Vanity Fair, Wiles made scathing critiques of nearly all the most powerful people in Trump’s Cabinet.
She said Trump acted as though he had ‘an alcoholic’s personality,’ that Vice President JD Vance has been a ‘conspiracy theorist for a decade,’ and that former Attorney General Pam Bondi ‘whiffed’ on releasing the Jeffrey Epstein files.
‘Very grateful to Susie for her friendship and service to the president and our country,’ Vance wrote on Friday. ‘Stephen Miller is an amazing patriot and will do great things. Congrats to him on a well deserved promotion!’
Complicating her tenure, Wiles was diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer in March of this year before undergoing treatment.
In September, she announced she was cancer-free, though she was open about the struggles she faced with her health and received support from many in the administration.
In recent months, there have also been reports critical of Wiles’ family, noting how her daughters’ lobbying work could have benefited from Susie’s proximity to Trump.
As recently as September, one source said, Wiles was telling people directly that Republicans were going to take the midterms.
Miller has served as deputy chief of staff under Wiles since the beginning of the term
‘Patriots in control,’ Hegseth posted on X just minutes after Wiles posted about her resignation. He notably did not mention Wiles in any of his posts, instead he opted to congratulate Stephen Miller
But after the midterm election disaster, Trump was looking for a target to blame, insiders told the Daily Mail.
Insiders told the Daily Mail that Trump was calling advisers about Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and his performance, a sign some took to mean that the Pentagon boss could be on thin ice.
But with Wiles’ departure and Miller’s elevation, Hegseth is likely safe for now, given his close relationship to Trump’s longtime senior adviser.
‘Patriots in control,’ Hegseth posted on X just minutes after Wiles posted about her resignation.
‘Huge CONGRATS to [Miller]— a true patriot and America First fighter. He never backs down — and the [Department of War] is right there with him,’ the secretary of war said in another post. He never posted anything about Wiles.
Miller is a controversial pick for Trump, who recently committed to working with Democrats when they take over Congress in January. Miller, being the architect of Trump’s immigration agenda, has stoked the anger of many Democratic lawmakers.
Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, released a statement after the announcement, urging Miller to ‘lawyer up.’
‘Just days after the American people rejected his corrupt and lawless presidency, Donald Trump is doubling down. Stephen Miller is the architect of the unconstitutional ICE raids that have terrorized our communities and kidnapped and killed American citizens and immigrant families,’ Garcia said, adding: ‘Stephen Miller should lawyer up.’
