Stephen Miller replaces Susie Wiles as Trump's White House chief of
staff after GOP's midterm defeat
[November 07, 2026]
By SEUNG MIN KIM
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Friday that Stephen Miller
was replacing Susie Wiles as White House chief of staff, installing as
his closest adviser a loyal, combative bulldog for his “America First”
agenda as the president prepares to stare down a newly empowered
Democratic Congress next year.
Miller, long a member of Trump’s tight inner circle, is a key architect
of the administration’s hard-line immigration policies. He is one of
Trump’s longest-serving aides, joining his long-shot 2016 presidential
campaign as a speechwriter. He most recently has served as White House
deputy chief of staff for policy and oversees a broad portfolio, though
he is best known for his role in Trump’s immigration policy.
The staff shuffle signals that Trump, whose Republican Party was handed
monumental defeats in Tuesday's midterm elections, is resisting a
conciliatory approach to Democratic lawmakers who are eager to
investigate the administration — including Miller himself as a top
target. Miller, 41, is a dogged defender of Trump and has built a deep
and sophisticated understanding of a president's executive power and how
the federal government operates, portending a potential burst of
executive actions in the final two years of Trump's presidency.
Wiles gave Trump her resignation Thursday night, a person familiar with
the events told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity
to describe the private conversation. Trump praised Wiles and said she’d
continue to work for his political organization.
Trump on Friday night denied that he made the change because he was
unhappy with his team after the deep losses his party suffered.
“Not because of the election. It’s just time," Trump said. "Sometimes
you change. The election wasn’t my election. I wasn’t on the ballot.”
Wiles, the steely political operator and longtime adviser to Trump, was
the first woman to ever serve in that post and the longest-serving White
House chief of staff for Trump, who cycled through four of them during
his first four-year term.
“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,” Wiles said in a social media post
shortly after Trump’s announcement.
The departure also came months after Wiles indicated she no longer
showed evidence of breast cancer after she underwent months of treatment
for the disease, a diagnosis she went public with in March 2026.
Miller is tied to immigration policies that voters said went too far
During the midterm campaign, Miller took frequent partisan swipes at
Democrats, calling them “extremists, freaks and America-hating lunatics”
on social media and promoting unfounded theories about election fraud in
California and Alaska.
He has been a major part of the Trump administration’s anti-fraud task
force targeting benefit programs and a decision to suspend Microsoft and
others from a green card program. He also served as homeland security
adviser at the White House, giving him a perch from which to coordinate
with other agencies across the government.
He joined Trump on Friday for his trip to Florida, and the president
noted to reporters that "Stephen has been with me from the beginning.
"He gets it; very good politically," Trump said as he departed the White
House. "He’ll do a great job. Great manager.”
But the immigration policies that Miller is so closely associated with
were a major liability for Republicans during the just-wrapped election.
The midterm AP Voter Poll found that most voters, about 6 in 10, said
the administration’s immigration enforcement actions had gone too far
and they “somewhat” or “strongly” disapproved of how Immigration and
Customs Enforcement had handled its responsibilities.
“Just days after the American people rejected his corrupt and lawless
presidency, Donald Trump is doubling down,” said Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif.,
who is set to become chairman of the powerful House Oversight Committee.
“Stephen Miller is the architect of the unconstitutional ICE raids that
have terrorized our communities and kidnapped and killed American
citizens and immigrant families.”
In a statement, Garcia added, “Stephen Miller should lawyer up.”
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Incoming White House chief of staff Stephen Miller walks to board
Marine One with President Donald Trump on the South Lawn of the
White House, Friday, Nov. 5, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Tom
Brenner)
Wiles brought order to Trump’s campaign
Trump on Friday praised Wiles, the veteran Florida operative who
joined Trump’s team during his 2016 presidential bid, as having done
a “very good job, great job.”
But he added, “Sometimes in life, you have to make moves.”
Wiles, 69, is the second woman to lead Trump’s presidential campaign
to victory, although she never embraced the formal title of campaign
manager.
She has been credited with steering the most disciplined of his
three presidential bids, and Trump himself has said he was often
told that Wiles led his “best-run campaign.” Often called the “ice
maiden” by the president, she was seen as the no-brainer choice to
serve as White House chief of staff at the start of his second term.
Wiles stuck with the job even after her breast cancer diagnosis.
Deep into the midterm campaign, six months after having revealed her
diagnosis, she said she was “cancer-free,” indicating she no longer
showed evidence of cancer after her pathology results came back
clear.
In a rare interview, Wiles told Fox News Digital last month that she
hadn’t been planning on getting the mammogram that ultimately
detected her cancer. Her doctor suggested she do the exam anyway,
because a mammogram machine was available that day and her schedule
was too busy and unpredictable.
Wiles, the daughter of the late NFL player-turned-broadcaster Pat
Summerall, cut her reputation as someone who brought discipline to
the president’s chaotic style and shunned the spotlight, so much so
that at Trump’s 2024 election night victory party, she repeatedly
shook her head and avoided the microphone as Trump tried to coax her
to speak to the crowd.
In addition to Trump, Wiles also ran incumbent Sen. Rick Scott’s
2010 campaign for Florida governor and briefly served as manager of
former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman’s 2012 presidential campaign. She
spearheaded Ron DeSantis ’ successful run for Florida governor in
2018, but DeSantis would eventually urge the Trump campaign in 2020
to cut ties with Wiles, creating a rift that led to a particularly
vicious effort by those in Trump’s orbit to mock DeSantis throughout
his failed run for the Republican presidential nomination against
Trump in 2024.
Wiles once said Trump had ‘an alcoholic’s personality'
But in December 2025, nearing the end of Trump’s first year back as
president, Wiles became the headline when Vanity Fair magazine
published a series of interviews with her and other top Trump
administration officials conducted by the author Chris Whipple, an
expert on White House chiefs of staff.
The Wiles interviews stuck out for their candor, which is unusual
for a sitting White House chief of staff. She said Trump has an
“alcoholic’s personality,” although the president does not drink,
and said then-Attorney General Pam Bondi had “whiffed” in her
handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files while remarking that Vice
President JD Vance has been a “conspiracy theorist for about a
decade.”
Trump and other administration aides rushed to defend Wiles, who, in
turn, disparaged Vanity Fair for publishing what she called a
“disingenuously framed hit piece,” though she did not deny making
the comments.
In the interviews, which were conducted over a period of several
months, Wiles also revealed a bit of her management style, saying
she was “not an enabler.”
“I try to be thoughtful about what I even engage in,” Wiles said. “I
guess time will tell whether I’ve been effective.”
___
Associated Press writers Michelle L. Price in West Palm Beach,
Florida and Jill Colvin in New York contributed to this report.
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