Trump makes Stephen Miller chief of staff as Susie Wiles departs
Donald Trump has replaced Susie Wiles with Stephen Miller, the architect of his immigration crackdown, as White House chief of staff three days after the midterm defeat. “Sometimes in life you have to make moves,” the president said; Mr Miller, 41, starts on Monday and Ms Wiles moves to his political operation. Hakeem Jeffries called the appointment “a dangerous xenophobe and reckless extremist who has American blood on his hands”; Chuck Schumer said Mr Trump “learned nothing from his historic defeat”.
Mr Trump announced the change on Truth Social, calling Mr Miller “one of my most trusted advisors” and praising Ms Wiles, 69, the longest-serving of the five chiefs of staff he has had, for “an outstanding job”; she is reported to have resigned on Thursday night after the president chafed at stories of her allies landing consulting work. “Stephen’s been with me from the beginning. He gets it,” he said. Mr Miller, who designed the first-term travel ban and family separations and called a protester an “assassin” before retracting it, wrote that he was “honored beyond words” and that the mission was to “fight with all of our soul”. The choice cuts against the post-election mood: 58% of voters told pollsters the administration’s immigration enforcement had “gone too far”, and JD Vance said on Wednesday he was open to shifting enforcement towards employers. Republican dissent is audible — Thom Tillis has called Mr Miller “incompetent” and Congressman Marlin Stutzman said he should have been fired — while Mike Lee hailed “a true conservative warrior”. Democrats who take over the oversight committees in January told him to “lawyer up”. Watch the first clash with the new Congress over immigration funding.