Trump promotes Miller to chief of staff, replacing Wiles
· RTE.ieUS President Donald Trump has replaced chief of staff Susie Wiles with Stephen Miller, elevating the architect of some of his toughest domestic policies to run the White House after Republicans lost control of Congress in this week's midterm elections.
The shake-up puts a longtime Trump loyalist and firebrand policy advisor in charge of steering Mr Trump's agenda as the president prepares to confront a Democratic-led House of Representatives and Senate, and an expected wave of congressional investigations.
White House officials told Reuters that Mr Miller's selection suggests Mr Trump will take an aggressive approach to domestic policy and politics.
Mr Miller is a veteran of Trump's first term in office in 2017-2021.
Since Mr Trump's return to the White House in 2025, Mr Miller has officially been deputy chief of staff under Ms Wiles, but he wielded outsize influence across much of Mr Trump's domestic agenda and has had the ear of the president.
He is perhaps best known for driving Mr Trump's aggressive immigration crackdown, setting a target of 3,000 arrests a day. In pursuit of that target, federal immigration agents expanded their list of targets to include migrants who had been living in the US for decades.
In a social media post, Mr Trump called Mr Miller "one of my most trusted advisors," and he praised Ms Wiles for doing "an outstanding job."
Mr Trump said the change would take effect on Monday.
Ms Wiles, who submitted her resignation last night, will move to Mr Trump's political operation, according to a White House official.
Mr Trump had been displeased with his political and communications operations in the run-up to Tuesday's election as his public approval ratings fell near record lows.
This week, he said the White House needed to be "more aggressive" as Democrats retake congressional power, according to a person briefed on the matter.
Ms Wiles' allies in the White House began sharing concerns with others on Wednesday about her potential replacement, the person told Reuters.
"He's rewarding those most loyal to him. He's not changing course," said another White House official.
Rubio denies plans to leave post, Trump defends Hegseth
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has dismissed reports that he was planning to leave the Trump administration while the US president swatted away questions about whether he might fire Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth in the wake of Republican losses in midterms.
According to The New York Times, Mr Rubio dismissed reports yesterday that he was planning to leave the Trump administration as he weighs his next moves after the midterms.
It has "always been my plan" to work for US President Donald Trump until the end of his term, Mr Rubio told The Times in an interview.
Mr Rubio, who also serves as Mr Trump's national security adviser, is widely considered a potential successor to Mr Trump in the 2028 presidential race.
Just days before Tuesday's midterm elections, he made an unusual appearance alongside the US leader on the campaign trail, briefly stepping up on the podium to address a cheering crowd at a rally.
Mr Rubio declined to answer questions about his political future yesterday, however, saying: "I literally will not talk about 2028 anymore."
On reports that he was considering an exit from the Trump administration, he told The New York Times: "I don't know where these things come from, to be honest with you."
Earlier yesterday, Bloomberg News reported that Mr Rubio was weighing whether to leave the administration.
The report added that Mr Rubio spoke to White House officials about stepping down, and was asked to stay.
But the State Department has hit back sharply against reports that Mr Rubio might leave.
Hegseth vows to fight impeachment efforts
Meanwhile, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a video message yesterday vowing to fight efforts in Congress to impeach him and defending the Iran war as "courageous and historic" after voters punished Republicans over it in this week's midterm elections.
Mr Hegseth's remarks, posted on social media, came as taunts from his foes in Congress intensified and Mr Trump swatted away questions about whether he might fire Mr Hegseth. Mr Trump has commended his Pentagon chief.
The top Democrat in the House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries, asked in a post: "Why is Pete Hegseth still around?"
Mr Hegseth, a former Fox News host, has been a polarising figure who has made enemies even within his own Republican Party.
Critics in Congress are targeting: his conduct of the Iran war, which Mr Vance has said cost Republicans control of Congress; his firing of top military officers; and strained relations with politicians as the administration seeks a $1.5trn defence spending package.
Democrats, who won control of Congress in Tuesday's elections, have promised to investigate Mr Hegseth and his handling of the Pentagon, and congressional aides say that would include the firing of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, among other issues.
Mr Hegseth defended his stewardship of the Pentagon in a more than four-minute video that boasted about firing senior Pentagon leaders, ending diversity initiatives and banning transgender individuals from the military.
"You see, they attack me - they attack us - because we are effective. It's not going to work. We will not back down," Mr Hegseth said to the camera.
Calling the impeachment effort a "sham," Mr Hegseth said that Mr Trump himself was impeached twice.
"It's all about the politics of personal destruction. It didn't work against President Trump, and it won't work with me. You can rest assured of that," he said.
Yesterday, Mr Trump praised Mr Hegseth when asked whether he expected any staffing changes, saying his defence secretary had "done a fantastic job" and suggesting that the opposition to him was tied to his firing of generals.
"We had so many generals. Everybody was a four-star general. I never saw anything like it. And many of those people were woke. I don't like a woke general. And so, he probably has opposition," Mr Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
Mr Trump also praised Mr Hegseth's role in US military operations in Venezuela and Iran.
"Venezuela has been unbelievable ... and in Iran, we are there for seven months and we control everything that we've wanted to control," he said.
Sources have said Mr Trump could still replace Mr Hegseth as Republicans assess their election losses.