Miller Overtakes Wiles as White House Chief of Staff
Stephen Miller assumes the top post days after Republicans lost congressional control, while Susie Wiles departs following a year of public scrutiny.
By Marco Ortega ·
Susie Wiles handed in her resignation Thursday night, ending her tenure as the White House chief of staff just days after the Republican Party lost control of Congress in the midterm elections. President Donald Trump announced Friday that Stephen Miller, his deputy chief of staff, will take over the role.
Miller is a longtime figure in Trump’s inner circle who joined the campaign as a speechwriter in 2016. He previously served as an aide to former Attorney General Jeff Sessions and has been a central architect of the administration’s immigration agenda. Wiles, 69, was the first woman to hold the chief of staff position in the White House.
Wiles served as a political operator for Trump since his 2016 bid, managing his Florida campaign before overseeing the 50-state effort in 2024. Trump has referred to her as the “ice maiden” and credited her with running his most disciplined campaign. She is the daughter of late broadcaster Pat Summerall and worked as a scheduler for President Ronald Reagan early in her career.
The departure follows a period of intense public focus on Wiles’ management style. In December 2025, Vanity Fair published interviews in which Wiles described Trump as having an “alcoholic’s personality” and said Vice President JD Vance had been a “conspiracy theorist for about a decade.” She also criticized then-Attorney General Pam Bondi for “whiffing” in her handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files.
Wiles defended the interviews, calling them a “disingenuously framed hit piece,” though she did not deny the comments. She noted in the interviews that she was “not an enabler” and said, “I try to be thoughtful about what I even engage in.” Trump and other aides rushed to defend her after the publication.
Wiles had recently overcome a health challenge, revealing in March 2026 that she was no longer showing evidence of breast cancer after treatment. She told Fox News Digital last month that her doctor insisted on a mammogram despite it not being due, a decision she called vital for early detection. In a social media post Friday, Wiles said serving the president was “the honor of a lifetime” and expressed pride in securing the border and cutting taxes.
Trump stated on his social media site that Wiles would continue to work for his political organization. This is the fifth chief of staff Trump has appointed during his two terms, following Reince Priebus, John Kelly, Mick Mulvaney, and Mark Meadows in his first four years.
