Trump names Stephen Miller chief of staff, replacing Susie Wiles

President Donald Trump said Friday that Stephen Miller will replace Susie Wiles as White House chief of staff, putting a longtime adviser closely tied to his immigration policies in charge of his staff after Republicans’ defeats in the midterm elections.

Miller, currently deputy chief of staff, will begin the job Monday, Nov. 9, Trump wrote on Truth Social. Wiles said Friday was her last day as chief of staff and will move to what Trump called the “Trump 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 wrote. He praised Wiles for doing an “outstanding job” and thanked her for her service.

The change follows Tuesday’s midterm elections, in which Republicans lost control of both chambers of Congress, according to the BBC. CBS News described the appointment as the most significant change to Trump’s team since the election.

Wiles has served as chief of staff since Trump returned to the White House, after running his 2024 presidential campaign. She worked with his 2020 campaign in Florida, NPR reported. In a post on X, she thanked her colleagues and said her commitment to Trump would continue in her new role.

“Serving President Trump in the White House has been the honor of a lifetime,” Wiles wrote. “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 added: “While my role may be changing, my commitment to the President and the mission never will.”

The announcement reverses Trump’s public assurances about Wiles’s future. In mid-October, after Politico and The Washington Post reported that she might leave after the election, Trump said there was “zero chance” he was considering a replacement, NBC News reported. Asked again earlier this month, he said, “Susie is here and she’s gonna be here for a long time,” according to the BBC.

Wiles, 69, announced in September that she was in remission from cancer, six months after her diagnosis, the BBC reported. NPR described her illness as breast cancer and said it was announced this fall that she was cancer free.

Miller has served as deputy chief of staff for policy and as a homeland security adviser. He has played a central role in Trump’s hard-line immigration enforcement and deportation program. During Trump’s first administration, he was an adviser and director of speechwriting; before that, he worked as an aide to Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill, according to NBC News.