Stephen Miller Named White House Chief of Staff: Trump Replaces Susie Wiles After the Midterm Blowout, Starting Monday

WASHINGTON — The first big personnel answer to Tuesday's midterm rout arrived Friday afternoon. President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that Stephen Miller, his deputy chief of staff and one of his most trusted advisers, will become White House chief of staff starting Monday, November 9, and that Susie Wiles, who has held the job since the start of Trump's second term, will move over to the Trump Political Operation. "I think I wanted to make a change," Trump told reporters shortly after the announcement. "I think Susie's done a very good job, great job. Stephen's been great. We've got to make moves. Sometimes in life, you have to make moves."

The accounts of how Wiles left differ by source, and this desk prints both as sourced. USA TODAY reports that a source close to the White House said Trump fired Wiles, who had become a target of Steve Bannon and other MAGA allies after Republicans lost control of the House and the Senate; CNN reports that Wiles submitted her resignation on Thursday evening, citing two sources familiar with the matter. Wiles's own statement called serving Trump the "honor of a lifetime" and said her commitment to the president and the mission never will change. Miller, on X, wrote: "It has been the privilege of my lifetime to have served on his team from Day One, and I am honored beyond words to serve as his White House Chief of Staff."

What the choice signals is the part Dallas–Fort Worth will feel. Miller, 41, wrote Trump's first immigration policy paper as a campaign staffer in 2015 and, as deputy chief of staff for policy and Homeland Security adviser, has played a leading role shaping the administration's deportation policies — the same enforcement file that ran through this station's Fort Worth voter coverage on Tuesday. Elevating him, as USA TODAY puts it, signals Trump is not ready to retreat from his agenda despite an incoming Democratic-controlled Congress that flipped Senate seats in states including Texas, and despite the investigations Democrats are planning. "Stephen's been with me from the beginning," Trump said. "He gets it, very good politically. He'll do a great job." The searches agree the country is watching: the appointment rode inside Friday's heaviest trending search bucket, the 10-million-search hunt for midterm results and what follows them.