Stephen Miller becomes the new chief of staff to US President Donald Trump, replacing Susie Wiles. As Trump announced on Friday on his platform Truth Social, the previous deputy chief of staff takes up the post on Monday, 9 November, as reported among others by the Berliner Zeitung and Der Standard. Wiles, 69, accordingly moves to the “Trump Political Operation”, Trump’s political team. Trump thanked her for “outstanding work”.
The staffing change follows the Republicans’ defeat in the congressional elections on Tuesday. According to the news agency Reuters, which the Berliner Zeitung cites, Trump blamed leading staff for the weak campaign strategy and questioned spending as well as candidate decisions. According to the Berliner Zeitung, the Democrats won the majorities in both chambers. The US broadcaster CBS News reported, citing an insider, that Wiles had already submitted her resignation on Thursday evening, as Die Welt writes.
The architect of deportation policy
Miller has been part of the Republican’s inner circle since Trump’s 2016 campaign. He is regarded as a key architect of the government’s restrictive immigration and deportation policy, which includes large-scale deportation operations against migrants without legal residence status and the restriction of legal immigration routes. In the second term he has so far been deputy chief of staff for policy and homeland security adviser. In Trump’s first term he wrote speeches for the president, including the 2017 inauguration speech, and was a key figure behind the travel ban for citizens of certain countries and the practice of separating migrant children from their parents at the border between the USA and Mexico.
The Süddeutsche Zeitung portrays Miller as a hardliner who pushes mass deportations and praises the Iran war. It points to his role in the masked operations of the immigration authority ICE in cities such as Chicago and Minneapolis, as well as his demand to abolish birthright US citizenship. According to the Süddeutsche Zeitung, the White House credits him with successes in reducing violent crime, securing the border and combating fraud.
“He could not have made a worse choice”
The Democrats reacted sharply. Chuck Schumer, leader of the Democrats in the US Senate, wrote on X that Trump had learned nothing from election day and “could not have made a worse choice” than Miller. With the future majorities in Congress, they would “fight him with every means”. Miller was responsible for “the most barbaric and inhumane policy of this government”. Hakeem Jeffries, who leads the Democratic caucus in the House of Representatives, called Miller, according to the Süddeutsche Zeitung, “a dangerous xenophobe and reckless extremist with American blood on his hands”. Trump himself described Miller as “one of my most trusted advisers”.
Wiles was the first woman in the post of chief of staff. She had begun her career under Ronald Reagan, later worked with George W. Bush and supported Trump’s campaign in Florida in 2016. After the storming of the Capitol in 2021 she organised his comeback and was appointed chief of staff in 2025. In the spring her breast cancer illness became known, and in September she declared herself cancer-free. A portrait in the magazine “Vanity Fair” in December 2025 caused a stir, in which she attributed to Trump the “personality of an alcoholic”; later she accused the magazine of taking statements out of context. The Süddeutsche Zeitung writes that Wiles had been against Trump’s Iran war and against the harsh treatment of immigrants. As recently as mid-October, Trump had assured that Wiles would “stay in office for a long time”.
The chief of staff coordinates the work of the president’s staff, manages processes and plays an important role in access to the head of state. In Trump’s first term from 2017 to 2021, four chiefs of staff held the office. Der Standard also reports that two further senior officials are resigning at the Justice Department.
