Stephen Miller becomes White House chief of staff

Friday appointment announcement preceded the weekend airing of Trump’s CBS interview

Stephen Miller, 41, took over as White House chief of staff on Monday, replacing Susie Wiles, Trump’s former chief of staff. He had previously served as deputy chief of staff.

Photo caption: Stephen Miller speaks to members of the media outside the White House in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 21, 2026. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images.

Trump announced the change on Friday on Truth Social. The Guardian reported that the announcement came as a surprise because members of the Trump administration had denied reports that Wiles was leaving.

The announcement came before the CBS’s 60 Minutes interview aired over the weekend. In that interview, Trump said of the mass-deportation policy: “I think it was too tough,” then added, “I think it might be too tough, yeah. And a lot of people would say that it’s great. But a lot of people think it’s too tough.”

The Guardian said Trump had chosen Miller after his participation in the interview, elevating “the man behind one of his most controversial policies” to a larger role in the White House. The Guardian also reported that Democrats accused Trump of not listening to voters by elevating Miller to a top role, linking that criticism to his immigration policy over the previous year.

The promotion came just days after Republicans suffered losses in the midterm elections, two years into Trump’s administration. In recent weeks, several top women in the administration had stepped down, including Harmeet Dhillon, a top Justice Department official, and Katie Zacharia, who spent just five days as press secretary after replacing Karoline Leavitt.

White House deputy chief of staff Richard Walters, one of Wiles’s closest allies, announced he would also be leaving the administration. The Guardian said more administration staffing changes could come soon after the midterm results and Miller’s appointment.

Trump said over the weekend that he had offered Dana White, the head of Ultimate Fighting Championship, the White House press-secretary role. He later claimed he was “only kidding,” while the two were due to meet Monday.