Who is Stephen Miller? Meet Trump’s longtime aide who replaces Susie Wiles as White House chief of staff

White House chief of staff: United States President Donald Trump has named his longtime aide Stephen Miller as the new White House chief of staff, replacing Susie Wiles, days after Republicans lost control of Congress in the midterm elections.

Miller assumes the role as the President prepares to confront a Democratic-led House of Representatives and Senate and a wave of congressional investigations into his administration, Reuters reported.

Trump announced the decision on his social media platform, Truth Social, on Friday, saying Miller would assume the position on Monday, November 9, 2026.

Trump’s ‘trusted advisor’

In the social media post, Trump called Miller "one of my most trusted advisors," and praised Wiles for doing "an outstanding job." Trump said the change would take effect on Monday.

A White House official said Miller’s appointment signals that Trump has no intention of rethinking his policies and instead is rewarding his most loyal aides, the Reuters report said.

“He’s not changing course,” the official said, despite tens of millions of American voters repudiating Trump's domestic agenda and foreign policy.

‘Fight with all of our soul to support our President’

"The mission now is more clear than ever," Miller said on X after his appointment. "Fight with all of our soul to support our President and defend this magnificent Republic."

Hakeem Jeffries, who is set to become the new Democratic speaker of the House, responded to the announcement by calling Miller a "reckless extremist" in a posting on X.

Miller, 41, is one of Trump's longest-serving aides and one of only a few who served throughout his first and second terms in office, according to Reuters.

Since Trump's return to the White House in 2025, Miller has officially served as deputy chief of staff under Wiles, but he has wielded outsize influence across much of Trump's domestic agenda and has had the president's ear.

He is perhaps best known for driving Trump's aggressive immigration crackdown, setting a goal of 3,000 arrests a day. The efforts to meet that target pushed masked US immigration officers into communities around the country, increasingly arresting people with no criminal records and who had been living in the country for decades, the Reuters report added.

The crackdown, however, gets poor marks with Americans. Just 36 per cent of respondents to a Reuters/Ipsos poll completed early this week approve of it, with 54 per cent disapproving.

The chief of staff typically wields great influence as the president's gatekeeper. The person manages White House staff, organizes the president's time and schedule, and oversees other government departments and lawmakers.

Wiles, 69, who submitted her resignation on Thursday night, will move to Trump's political operation, according to a White House official.

The veteran political operative from Florida was the first woman to serve as White House chief of staff.

(With inputs from Reuters)