US President Donald Trump has named longtime aide Stephen Miller as his chief of staff, handing one of the most powerful jobs in Washington to the official behind many of his hardline domestic policies. The announcement came on Friday, after Republicans lost control of Congress in this week’s midterm elections. Miller will succeed Susie Wiles, who is leaving the post.
Miller takes the role as the president prepares to face a Democratic-led House of Representatives and Senate, along with a wave of congressional investigations into his administration. Miller has long championed broad presidential powers. His elevation comes at a time when the Republican defeat could leave Trump leaning more heavily on executive power to push his domestic agenda, observers have noted.
Miller’s influence over Trump’s domestic agenda
In a social media post, Trump described Miller as “one of my most trusted advisors” and praised Wiles for doing “an outstanding job.” Trump said the change would take effect on Monday. Miller, 41, is one of only a few aides who served throughout both of Trump’s terms in office. Since Trump returned to the White House in 2025, Miller has officially been deputy chief of staff under Wiles, yet he has held considerable sway over much of the agenda and has had the president’s ear.
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Miller is best known for driving Trump’s immigration crackdown, which set a goal of 3,000 arrests a day. Efforts to hit that target brought masked immigration officers into communities across the country. Increasingly, those arrested had no criminal records and had lived in the United States for decades.
Miller was also closely involved in an effort to overhaul the federal bureaucracy, which led to the dismissal of tens of thousands of civil servants in 2025. He was a driving force behind the administration’s disputes with universities, diversity programs and other institutions.
Reaction from the White House and Democrats
A White House official said the appointment showed that Trump does not plan to rethink his policies and is instead rewarding his most loyal aides. “He’s not changing course,” the official said, despite tens of millions of American voters rejecting Trump’s domestic agenda and foreign policy.
Trump said earlier this week that he was willing to work with Democrats on Capitol Hill. However, several White House officials said Miller’s rise could point to a more confrontational approach and a renewed drive on immigration and other issues. Trump had been unhappy with his political and communications operations ahead of the election, as his public approval ratings slipped near record lows. This week, he reportedly said the White House needed to be “more aggressive” as Democrats regain power in Congress, according to a person briefed on the matter.
Miller responded on X, writing that “the mission now is more clear than ever” and calling on supporters to “Fight with all of our soul to support our President and defend this magnificent Republic.” Hakeem Jeffries, who is set to become the next Democratic speaker of the House, called Miller a “reckless extremist” in his own post on X.
Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said his party planned to investigate Miller’s immigration policies. “Stephen Miller should lawyer up,” he said. A recent poll completed early this week found that only 36% of respondents approved of the crackdown, while 54% disapproved.
Wiles’s departure and the role of chief of staff
Wiles, 69, submitted her resignation on Thursday night and will move to Trump’s political operation, according to a White House official. A veteran political operative from Florida, she was the first woman to serve as White House chief of staff. She brought decades of political experience to the job and was regarded as running a more disciplined operation than some of Trump’s earlier top aides. She kept working through treatment for early-stage breast cancer earlier this year.
Wiles rarely challenged Trump’s policies, but she brought order to an often chaotic operation and was seen as a voice of reason. Her exit raises questions about who will fill that role. The chief of staff typically holds significant influence as the president’s gatekeeper, managing White House staff, organizing the president’s schedule and overseeing other government departments and lawmakers.
Trump went through four chiefs of staff during his 2017-2021 term, an unusually high number, as they were seen to have struggled to restrain the unpredictable president.
