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In his first interview since Republicans’ landslide defeat in the midterm elections, President Donald Trump said he plans to make changes to his top staff.
Talk with 60 minutes On Friday, Trump reflected on Tuesday’s election, in which Democrats swept a series of Republican Party strongholds to regain control of the House and Senate.
The interview, with correspondent Ross Douthat, was recorded shortly before Trump fired White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and replaced her with his deputy, Stephen Miller, the architect of the administration’s radical immigration agenda.
“In a past life, you were pretty famous for saying ‘you’re fired’ quite a bit,” Douthat said, according to a teaser for the interview that will air Sunday. “After a big midterm defeat like this, are you thinking of firing anyone?
“Yeah, a little bit,” Trump replied. “I love my wardrobe. I think they’re good. But I might make some changes. I don’t want to mention who…”
Douthat then mentioned that he had seen Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in the building earlier in the day and noted that there had been calls for him to resign. “Do you trust him?” he asked.
“Yes,” said the 80-year-old president. “Look, we’ve won two wars. We’ve won Venezuela and have already taken out billions and billions and billions of dollars, and we’re going to take out several billion dollars and we’ll get along just fine… We won this war in less than an hour. And no one was killed.”
“Are you attributing this to Pete Hegseth? THE 60 minutes » asked the correspondent.
“No, but he was part of it,” the president replied.
Hegseth, which played a central role in the Iran war, is under increasing pressure. Democrats have vowed to pursue his impeachment proceedings, some Republicans have questioned his leadership and Trump has reportedly asked his advisers whether to fire him.
Personnel changes are not uncommon following bruising midterm elections. After the 2006 midterm elections, in which Republicans suffered heavy losses due to their opposition to the Iraq War, George W. Bush fired Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. After the Democratic Party bombed in 2010, Barack Obama replaced senior adviser David Axelrod.
Trump made the first of what could be several changes later Friday.
“I am pleased to announce that Mr. Stephen Miller, the current Deputy Chief of Staff in the Trump Administration, and one of my most trusted advisors, will become Chief of Staff effective Monday, November 9, 2026,” the president wrote on Truth Social Friday. “Susie Wiles, who has done an outstanding job, will join the Trump political operation.”
The president had become frustrated with Wiles, whom he calls the “Ice Maiden”, and yelled at him in front of others on election night: The Wall Street Journal reported.
Miller is considered more polarizing and ideologically uncompromising. He spearheaded some of Trump’s most controversial policies, including the president’s mass deportation campaign and efforts to end birthright.
In an interview later Friday, Douthat said Trump had expressed a willingness to work with Democrats on immigration reform — a position seemingly at odds with his decision to elevate Miller.
“There is a slight tension between the personnel choices and the president’s stated vision of where he might strike a deal with the Democratic Party,” he said.
Asked if Trump had named other administration officials who could be fired, Douthat said, “He declined to be specific. »
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