President Donald Trump said Friday that Stephen Miller is replacing Susie Wiles as White House chief of staff, a shake-up that comes just days after Republicans lost control of Congress in Tuesday's midterm elections.
Trump made the announcement on his social media site, where he praised Wiles and said she would continue to work for his political organization. Wiles released her own statement shortly afterward, writing: "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." She added that her commitment to "the President and the mission" will not change.
Wiles, 69, was the first woman ever to serve as White House chief of staff, and she is the longest-serving person in that job under Trump, who cycled through four chiefs of staff during his first four-year term.
Miller, a key architect of the administration's hard-line immigration policies, has long been a central figure in Trump's inner circle. He joined Trump's longshot 2016 presidential campaign as a speechwriter and currently serves as White House deputy chief of staff. Though his portfolio is wide-ranging, he is most closely aligned with Trump's immigration policy and rhetoric. Miller is a former aide to hard-line former Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, who went on to become Trump's first attorney general.
A veteran Florida operative, Wiles joined Trump's team in 2016 to run his campaign in his adopted home state, reprised the role in 2020 and oversaw the entire 50-state effort in 2024. She was the second woman to lead a Trump presidential campaign to victory, though she never took the formal title of campaign manager. She was widely credited with steering the most disciplined of his three bids, and Trump has said he was often told Wiles led his "best-run campaign." Often called the "ice maiden" by the president, she was seen as the obvious choice for chief of staff at the start of his second term and famously shunned the spotlight, repeatedly shaking her head and avoiding the microphone when Trump tried to coax her to speak at his 2024 election night victory party.
Wiles also drew headlines in December 2025, when Vanity Fair published a series of interviews with her and other top administration officials conducted by author Chris Whipple, an expert on White House chiefs of staff. Her remarks stood out for their candor, unusual for a sitting chief of staff. She said Trump has an "alcoholic's personality," although the president does not drink, said then-Attorney General Pam Bondi had "whiffed" in her handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files, and remarked that Vice President JD Vance has been a "conspiracy theorist for about a decade." Trump and other 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, conducted over several months, she also said of her management style that she was "not an enabler."
Trump burned through four chiefs of staff in his first term: Reince Priebus, fired after just six months; John Kelly, who served the longest at 17 months; Mick Mulvaney, who held the role in an acting capacity for a little over a year; and Mark Meadows, who served as gatekeeper for the 10 months before Trump left office.
Wiles' departure also follows a personal health battle. In March 2026, she revealed she had been diagnosed with early stage breast cancer and juggled surgery and treatments alongside her demanding job. Six months later she said she was "cancer-free" after her pathology results came back clear, thanking family, friends, doctors and "everyone who prayed for me, checked in, and supported me along the way," with special thanks to Trump for his "unwavering support." At an October 2026 White House event, Trump said of her: "She's tough. She's a tremendous fighter."
In a rare October 2026 interview with Fox News Digital, Wiles said she had not planned on getting the mammogram that detected her cancer because she was not due for one for several more months, but her doctor insisted because a machine was available that day. "Had he not encouraged me to do it that day, I would have gone back to work and probably not thought about it again until July," she said. "Four months may not sound like a long time, but with cancer, early detection matters."
