Stephen Miller replaces Susie Wiles as Trump’s White House chief of staff after midterm defeat

US President Donald Trump has named Stephen Miller as his new White House chief of staff, replacing Susie Wiles, in the first major shake-up of his inner circle since Republicans lost control of Congress in Tuesday’s midterm elections.

Trump announced the change on his Truth Social platform on Friday, US time (early on Saturday in Australia). He described Miller as “one of my most trusted advisors” and said he would start on Monday.

Trump said Wiles had “done an outstanding job” and that she would move to his political organisation. Wiles handed Trump her resignation in the Oval Office on Thursday, and Friday was her last day in the role, a Republican Party official said.

Who is Susie Wiles?

Wiles, a veteran Florida political strategist, ran Trump’s successful 2024 campaign and became the first woman to serve as White House chief of staff when he returned to office in January 2025. She is the longest-serving of Trump’s chiefs of staff across his two terms, a role that churned through four people in his first term.

In a social media post after the announcement, Wiles said serving in the White House “has been the honor of a lifetime” and that her commitment to the president would not change.

Who is Stephen Miller?

Miller has been one of Trump’s closest and longest-serving advisers. He joined Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, having earlier worked for Alabama senator Jeff Sessions, who went on to become Trump’s first attorney general. In Trump’s first term Miller was a senior policy adviser and chief speechwriter.

In the second term he has served as a deputy chief of staff and homeland security adviser, with a wide portfolio most closely tied to immigration. He has been a key architect of the administration’s hardline immigration policies, including its crackdown on undocumented migrants, which have drawn legal challenges and large protests across the United States.

White House communications director Steven Cheung welcomed the appointment on X, calling Miller “a Trump OG”.

Why now?

The change follows a heavy defeat for Republicans in the 3 November midterm elections, which handed Democrats control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate from January. Counting was still continuing in some races on Friday.

Trump had been widely expected to reshuffle his staff after the results. Elevating Miller, rather than a figure seen as more conciliatory, points to a president preparing to fight a hostile Congress for his final two years in office rather than seek compromise with it. Accounts of how the change came about differ: Trump presented it as Wiles moving to a new job, while people close to the White House have described the president as angry about the election results.

What are Democrats saying?

Democrats have made clear they plan to use their new majorities to investigate the administration once the new Congress sits in January. Democratic congressman Robert Garcia, expected to chair the House Oversight Committee, said Democrats would investigate Miller and told him to “lawyer up”.

Miller had not commented publicly on the midterm results by the time of the announcement.

What does a chief of staff do?

The White House chief of staff runs the president’s staff, controls who and what reaches the president, and manages the flow of decisions across the administration. Wiles was widely credited with bringing more order to Trump’s second-term White House than to his first, when the job changed hands repeatedly.

Miller’s move from policy adviser to the top staff job puts the administration’s most prominent immigration hardliner in charge of its day-to-day running. It has not yet been announced who will take over his current homeland security and policy roles.

What does it mean for Australia?

The shake-up comes as the Albanese government deals with an administration facing a divided Washington for the first time in Trump’s second term. A White House more focused on fighting Congress could affect the pace of decisions that matter to Australia, from trade and tariffs to defence co-operation under AUKUS, though no specific change in policy towards Australia has been announced.

VNN will update this story as more is confirmed.