In the clearest sign yet that he intends to fight rather than reset after a bruising midterm defeat, US President Donald Trump has replaced chief of staff Susie Wiles with Stephen Miller, handing day-to-day control of the White House to the strategist behind some of his toughest domestic policies.
The decision elevates a longtime Trump loyalist and combative policy adviser to manage the president’s agenda just as Republicans have lost control of Congress in this week’s midterm elections.
With Democrats set to run both the House of Representatives and the Senate, the White House is bracing for an expected surge of congressional investigations. White House officials told Reuters that Mr Miller’s promotion points to an aggressive posture on domestic policy and politics rather than any move toward compromise.
Mr Miller, a veteran of Trump’s first term in office in 2017-2021, has remained central to the president’s inner circle since Mr Trump’s return to the White House in 2025.
Although he has formally served as deputy chief of staff under Ms Wiles, officials said he exerted outsize influence over large portions of Mr Trump’s domestic agenda and regularly had the president’s ear.
He is perhaps best known for spearheading Mr Trump’s immigration crackdown, including a target of 3,000 arrests a day. As the administration pursued that benchmark, federal immigration agents broadened their focus to include migrants who had lived in the US for decades.
Announcing the change in a social media post, Mr Trump described Mr Miller as “one of my most trusted advisors,” while also lauding Ms Wiles for doing “an outstanding job.”
Mr Trump said the switch would take effect on Monday.
Democrats, already preparing to use their new congressional majorities to press the administration, reacted sharply. The top Democrat in the US Senate promised vigorous resistance after President Donald Trump made the appointment public.
“Stephen Miller is the architect of the most barbaric, inhumane policies of this administration. Trump couldn’t have made a worse choice. Our Democratic majorities will fight him every step of the way,” Minority Leader Chuck Schumer posted on X.
Donald Trump praised Susie Wiles for doing ‘an outstanding job’
Ms Wiles, who submitted her resignation last night, will shift to Mr Trump’s political operation, according to a White House official.
The change comes after a period of frustration inside the West Wing. Mr Trump had been displeased with his political and communications operations in the run-up to Tuesday’s election as his public approval ratings fell near record lows.
In conversations this week, he said the White House needed to be “more aggressive” as Democrats retake congressional power, according to a person briefed on the matter.
That push appears to have unsettled parts of the president’s team. Ms Wiles’ allies in the White House began raising concerns with others on Wednesday about her potential replacement, the person told Reuters.
“He’s rewarding those most loyal to him. He’s not changing course,” said another White House official.
Rubio denies plans to leave post, Trump defends Hegseth
Questions about staffing extended beyond the chief of staff’s office. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has dismissed reports that he was planning to leave the Trump administration, while the US president brushed aside inquiries about whether he might fire Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth following the Republican losses in the midterms.
According to The New York Times, Mr Rubio dismissed reports yesterday that he was planning to leave the Trump administration as he weighs his next moves after the midterms.
It has “always been my plan” to work for US President Donald Trump until the end of his term, Mr Rubio told The Times in an interview.
Mr Rubio, who also serves as Mr Trump’s national security adviser, is widely considered a potential successor to Mr Trump in the 2028 presidential race.
In the final days before Tuesday’s midterm elections, he made a rare appearance on the campaign trail with the president, briefly stepping to the podium to speak to a cheering rally crowd.
Even so, Mr Rubio declined yesterday to engage on long-term political plans, saying: “I literally will not talk about 2028 anymore.”
Addressing the reports directly, he told The New York Times: “I don’t know where these things come from, to be honest with you.”
Earlier yesterday, Bloomberg News reported that Mr Rubio was weighing whether to leave the administration.
The report added that Mr Rubio spoke to White House officials about stepping down, and was asked to stay.
But the State Department has hit back sharply against reports that Mr Rubio might leave.
Marco Rubio, Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth pictured at a cabinet meeting in July
Hegseth vows to fight impeachment efforts
Meanwhile, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth released a video message yesterday promising to fight efforts in Congress to impeach him and defending the Iran war as “courageous and historic” after voters punished Republicans over it in this week’s midterm elections.
His comments, posted on social media, landed as criticism from opponents in Congress intensified and Mr Trump swatted away questions about whether he might fire Mr Hegseth. The president has continued to commend his Pentagon chief.
The top Democrat in the House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries, asked in a post: “Why is Pete Hegseth still around?”
Mr Hegseth, a former Fox News host, has been a polarising figure who has attracted detractors even within his own Republican Party.
Lawmakers and aides have focused on several flashpoints: his conduct of the Iran war, which Mr Vance has said cost Republicans control of Congress; his firing of top military officers; and strained relations with politicians as the administration pushes for a $1.5trn defence spending package.
Democrats, who won control of Congress in Tuesday’s elections, have pledged investigations into Mr Hegseth and his handling of the Pentagon. Congressional aides say scrutiny would include the firing of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, among other issues.
In a video lasting more than four minutes, Mr Hegseth defended his record while highlighting the removal of senior Pentagon leaders, the end of diversity initiatives and a ban on transgender individuals serving in the military.
“You see, they attack me – they attack us – because we are effective. It’s not going to work. We will not back down,” Mr Hegseth said to the camera.
Labeling the impeachment push a “sham,” he noted that Mr Trump himself was impeached twice.
“It’s all about the politics of personal destruction. It didn’t work against President Trump, and it won’t work with me. You can rest assured of that,” he said.
Asked yesterday whether he anticipated staff changes, Mr Trump praised Mr Hegseth, saying the defence secretary had “done a fantastic job” and suggesting the backlash was linked to his decision to remove generals.
“We had so many generals. Everybody was a four-star general. I never saw anything like it. And many of those people were woke. I don’t like a woke general. And so, he probably has opposition,” Mr Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
Mr Trump also credited Mr Hegseth’s role in US military operations in Venezuela and Iran.
“Venezuela has been unbelievable … and in Iran, we are there for seven months and we control everything that we’ve wanted to control,” he said.
Sources have said Mr Trump could still replace Mr Hegseth as Republicans assess their election losses.
