PRESIDENT Donald Trump on Friday said Stephen Miller was replacing Susie Wiles as White House chief of staff, days after Republicans lost control of Congress in the midterm elections. Miller, long a key member of Trump’s inner circle, is a key architect of the administration’s hardline immigration policies. He is one of Trump’s closest and longest-serving advisers, joining his long-shot 2016 presidential campaign as a speechwriter. He currently serves 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, now staring down a combative Congress that will soon be controlled by Democrats, is resisting a conciliatory approach after the grand old party’s midterm thrashing on Tuesday. Miller is a dogged defender of Trump and his “America First” principles, 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 on Thursday night, a person familiar with the events said speaking on condition of anonymity to describe the private conversation. Trump praised Wiles in a Truth Social post and said she’d continue to work for his political organisation. “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. She added that her commitment to “the President and the mission” will not change. 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. 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.

 

During the midterm campaign, Miller took frequent partisan swipes at Democrats, calling them “extremists, freaks and America-hating lunatics” on social media and promoted unfounded theories about election fraud in California and Alaska. US would not exist right now without Trump: Miller, pledges ‘absolute loyalty’:NEWLY designated White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller delivered a glowing address at Mar-a-Lago on Friday evening, invoking the formative days of Donald Trump’s political entry while pledging absolute loyalty to the American leader. According to video footage circulating on X, Trump introduced Miller to the assembled attendees, describing him as “a very hot commodity” before handing over the microphone. Taking the floor, Miller reaffirmed his long-standing allegiance. “It was the privilege of a lifetime to join President Trump all the way back in 2015 when he came down that golden escalator. And let me tell you, if it wasn’t for President Trump, the United States of America would not exist right now. This man saved America. He saved our military from collapse.

 

He saved our economy from destruction. He saved our border from annihilation. And he saved our country from threats at home and abroad, which would have been the end of the American dream forever,” Miller stated. “This man took a bullet for us. He faced down life in prison for us. He saved the Republican Party from the ash heap of history and has made it stronger, more popular, and more resilient than ever before,” he added, despite electoral outcomes pointing to a shifting political landscape. “We need to stand with the man who has stood with us and this country with every fibre of his being. It is the honour of my life to be President Trump’s chief of staff, and I swear to you, and I pledge to you, Mr President, my absolute loyalty, my unwavering commitment, and my total devotion to your success and the success of this country,” he said. The surprise appointment reverberated across political circles, drawing immediate criticism from Democratic figures who characterised the staffing decision as a doubling down on positions recently rejected at the ballot box.