Trump appoints adviser Stephen Miller as new White House chief of staff

United States President Donald Trump has announced that Stephen Miller is replacing Susie Wiles as White House chief of staff.

In a post on his Truth Social account on Friday, Trump said Miller would start his new job on Monday, calling him “one of my most trusted advisors”.

“Susie Wiles, who has done an outstanding job, will be moving over to the Trump Political Operation. I want to thank her for her service as Chief of Staff — She has done a great job!”

Wiles, the most high-profile departure yet from the White House after Republicans’ overwhelming midterm losses, said Friday would be her last day.

“Serving President Trump in the White House has been the honour of a lifetime”, she wrote in a social media post. “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”.

Al Jazeera learned that Wiles, who oversaw Trump’s return to the presidency in 2024, handed her resignation to Trump in the White House’s Oval Office on Thursday. A Republican Party official confirmed it was accepted by the president who has since said he wanted to make a change.

Miller has been one of Trump’s closest confidants throughout both presidential terms, after joining the president’s first election campaign as an adviser in 2016.

Democrats are widely expected to launch investigations into Miller upon taking control of the US House of Representatives and Senate in January.

“Just days after the American people rejected his corrupt and lawless presidency, Donald Trump is doubling down”, Democratic Congressman Robert Garcia, the likely incoming chairman of the US House’s Oversight Committee, said in a statement to Al Jazeera. “Oversight Democrats will continue to investigate Miller for his misconduct, and we will fight against his hateful policies in Congress and the courts”.

He added: “Stephen Miller should lawyer up”.

Trump was widely expected to shake up his staff after the midterm drubbing, which saw Democrats net seven US Senate seats, with two states, Alaska and Mississippi, still counting their results. Democrats, as of Friday, have also won 253 seats in the 435-member US House, with 27 races still set to be counted.

Despite the vote, which was widely viewed as a referendum on Trump, Miller’s appointment largely represents a doubling down on his most controversial policies, offering a potential view of the course the president plans to chart for his final two years in office.

Miller, a domestic adviser to the president, has been the driving force behind some of the Trump administration’s most controversial policies, including its far-reaching immigration crackdown in the US.

Garcia called Miller “the architect of the unconstitutional ICE raids that have terrorised our communities and kidnapped and killed American citizens and immigrant families”.

Some White House staff members immediately praised the announcement soon after it was announced.

“Stephen Miller is a Trump OG, someone who has been with the President since the very beginning”, White House communications director Steven Cheung posted on X. “There is no bigger advocate for the Trump agenda than Stephen, and he will help the Administration deliver on monumental victories for the rest of this historic second term”.

Miller has not yet commented on the election results, but on election day, he urged Trump supporters to vote in a post on X.

“Send a message to the corrupt media, corrupt Democrats and corrupt left-wing politicians who want to steal your future and destroy the inheritance of your children,” he wrote. “Get to the polls and protect the ones you love.”