President Donald Trump said Friday that Stephen Miller was replacing Susie Wiles as White House chief of staff, mere days after Republicans lost control of Congress in the midterm elections. Miller, long a key member of Trump’s inner circle, is a key architect of the administration’s hard-line immigration policies. Wiles, a steely political operator and the first woman to serve in the post, was Trump’s longest-serving White House chief of staff and his longtime adviser.
A handful of remaining Senate and House races still to be called by The Associated Press will determine the strength of Democrats’ majority in Congress. Democrats will hold at least 54 seats in the 100-member Senate next year and as many as 56 depending on final results in Alaska and Mississippi — where contests remain narrow with votes still outstanding.
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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who is likely to return as majority leader next year, promised in an interview with the AP that Democrats will prevent the Republican president from installing a “right-winger” on the Supreme Court or “crappy nominees” elsewhere in the federal judiciary or in Trump’s Cabinet.
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Rep. Senfronia Thompson would be the first Black lawmaker and first woman elevated to Texas House speaker in the state’s history. The 87-year-old Democrat was first elected in 1972.
Democrats won a majority in the state House for the first time since 2002 as part of their sweeping victories in Tuesday’s midterm elections.
The next House speaker will be elected by majority vote of the 150-member chamber next January. Thompson will have to hold together the coalition she claims until then.
The Treasury Department on Friday targeted several firms exchanging Iranian rials and other currencies for allegedly helping Tehran evade sanctions and fund its proxies.
Some of the providers dealt with Iranian cryptocurrency exchanges already sanctioned by Washington.
The latest targets were coordinated with the Canadian government as several of the individuals and entities named are based in Vancouver and Toronto.
“Anyone, anywhere in the world, who helps Tehran evade sanctions risks being held accountable,” State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said in a statement.
The actions are part of the Trump administration’s economic campaign to cripple the various financial networks that help sustain Iran as the longtime adversaries struggle to find a diplomatic resolution to a more than eight-month long conflict.
Ukrainian officials have praised first lady Melania Trump for her role in a humanitarian ceasefire in the besieged Ukrainian city of Oleshky and hope for more of her help going forward.
Davyd Arakhamia, head of the parliamentary faction of Zelenskyy’s party, and Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, spoke to reporters in Washington a day after a White House event recognizing the recent six-day truce between Russia and Ukraine in Oleshky.
Lubinets says he thinks of the first lady “as a heavyweight” in negotiations, saying her office was instrumental in getting the Russians to open negotiations.
Asked about a greater role for Melania Trump in talks between Russia and Ukraine, Arakhamia said, “we would appreciate it.” He says he wants to expand the ability to get truces in other parts of the war-torn country.
A Ukrainian official says with Democrats winning control of Congress in the midterm elections, they expect American support to surge next year.
Davyd Arakhamia, head of the parliamentary faction of Zelenskyy’s party, told reporters in Washington that he sees “the chances for us to get better U.S. support” financially and generally is “at least double” with the new Congress.
Arakhamia said he and other Ukrainian officials know newly appointed White House chief of staff Stephen Miller “well” and were broadly optimistic about his new role.
But before the congressional changes, “we have the hardest winter ever,” Arakhamia said.
Russia has been targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. He said the country’s supply of missile interceptors is all but depleted.
Democratic Rep. Adriano Espaillat of New York said Trump’s decision to name Miller the White House chief of staff “is a desperate and irresponsible cry for attention.”
He said Miller has been the architect of Trump’s immigration policies and voters have “rejected mass deportations, the targeting of Latino communities.”
To give Miller “a fancier title is just putting lipstick on a pig,” he said.
Trump praised both Wiles and Miller to reporters but said it was time for a change.
“Susie has done a very good job. Great job,” Trump said as he left the White House to travel to Florida. But he said, “We’ve got to make moves sometimes.”
Trump said Miller is great.
“He gets it” and is “very good politically. And he’s a very good man. He’ll do a great job, great manager,” Trump said.
Rep. Robert Garcia, who is in line to become chairman of the Oversight Committee, said Trump is “doubling down” on the administration policies that voters just rejected in the midterm election.
“Stephen Miller is the architect of the unconstitutional ICE raids that have terrorized our communities and kidnapped and killed American citizens and immigrant families,” said Garcia of California.
Garcia said the committee continues to investigate Miller “for his misconduct, and we will fight against his hateful policies in Congress and the courts.”
Announcing her departure on social media, Wiles called serving Trump “the honor of a lifetime.”
“I’m so proud to have been a part of what we’ve accomplished together from securing our border and cutting taxes to strengthening our economy and putting America First,” she wrote. “More than anything, I’m grateful for the extraordinary people I’ve had the privilege of working alongside.
“While my role may be changing, my commitment to the President and the mission never will,” Wiles said.
Wiles steered Trump’s 2024 comeback campaign. She has long been seen as a check on some of his most destructive impulses.
He’s one of Trump’s most loyal and longest-serving advisers. He came aboard Trump’s longshot 2016 presidential campaign as a speechwriter and has remained in the president’s orbit.
Miller, 41, currently serves as White House deputy chief of staff and, though his portfolio is wide-ranging, Miller is most closely aligned with Trump’s actions and rhetoric on immigration.
He’s a former Capitol Hill staffer who worked for former Sen. Jeff Sessions, an Alabama Republican who was Trump’s first attorney general.
During the midterm campaign, Miller took frequent partisan swipes at Democrats, calling them “extremists, freaks and America-hating lunatics” on social media. He also promoted unfounded theories about election fraud in California and Alaska.
Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy says he will be spending several weeks at a rehabilitation center after being discharged from the hospital Friday after suffering a stroke.
Murphy said the doctors are encouraged by the progress he’s made and the time at the rehabilitation center will help him get back to work on the quickest timeline possible. He expects to miss the next several weeks of votes as he continues his recovery.
“I want to be direct with you,” Murphy said in a statement. “So here is my diagnosis. Last Saturday afternoon, I felt something was not right with my body and called 9-1-1 out of an abundance of caution, and I’m glad I did. I was diagnosed with a small bleed in the thalamus region of my brain.”
Murphy says he’s staying engaged with his colleagues and staff remotely to ensure the work of his office continues.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio is set to embark on his first post-midterm foreign trip to attend a Group of 7 foreign ministers meeting in France next week.
He’ll likely face questions about the Trump administration’s policies, namely in Iran, after huge Republican losses in elections that gave Democrats control of Congress.
The State Department said Friday that Rubio would travel to Paris to meet his counterparts from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan on Monday and Tuesday.
The G7 nations will confront a number of unresolved world crises, including the Iran and Russia-Ukraine wars. They must also cope with Trump’s often antagonistic approach to allies and concerns that the election results may harden his attitude.
Rubio is often seen as presenting a gentler side to Trump’s belligerence in foreign policy. He may get questions about speculation he might leave the administration to prepare for a 2028 presidential run, which he has adamantly denied.
President Donald Trump said Friday that Stephen Miller was replacing Susie Wiles as White House chief of staff, mere days after Republicans lost control of Congress in the midterm elections.
On his social media site, Trump praised Wiles and said she’d continue to work for his political organization.
Miller, long a key member of Trump’s inner circle, is a key architect of the administration’s hard-line immigration policies.
Wiles, the steely political operator and longtime adviser to Trump, was the first woman to ever serve in that post.
Wiles’ departure comes almost immediately after the GOP’s midterm thrashing on Tuesday. She will be replaced by Stephen Miller, a longtime trusted aide to Trump.
The departure also came months after Wiles indicated she no longer showed evidence of breast cancer after she underwent months of treatment for the disease, a diagnosis she went public with in March 2026.
Wiles is the longest-serving White House chief of staff for Trump, who cycled through four of them during his first four-year term.
Democrats in Arizona won control of both legislative chambers and retained the governor’s office, giving the party its first trifecta in the state since 1966 as Democrats made major gains nationwide in this week’s elections and took control of both chambers of Congress.
In her first term, Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs had vetoed more than 540 measures passed by the Republican-led Legislature on policies including taxes, immigration and voting laws. Hobbs has said she’s looking to address water issues and affordability, and take on fraud and abuse in the state’s school voucher program.
The Associated Press called enough legislative races to confirm that both chambers flipped on Friday. The news organization calls races individually and it can take several days after voting, depending on when election officials tally the votes and how close the elections are. There have not been major disputes or disruptions this year.
In Arizona, Republicans have held the House for 60 years and the Senate since the early 1990s.
In a Truth Social post, Trump is praising “MAGA Warrior Joe Gruters” and says Gruters should continue to serve as chairman of the Republican National Committee.
“As Chairman, Joe turned the RNC into an efficient, focused, and powerful machine that will continue to empower the America First Agenda for many years to come,” Trump writes, endorsing him for a second term.
“Joe Gruters should return as Chairman of the RNC to continue to build our Party, and be a trusted partner as we MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, and ensure Free and Fair Elections,” he says.
“Joe is 100% America First, the Grassroots LOVES him, and I know he will do an incredible job in 2028, and secure Great Success for Republicans all across our Country. Joe has my Complete and Total Endorsement.”
Beijing confirmed for the first time that it’s discussing a possible meeting between Chinese leader Xi Jinping, U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Mao Ning, spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry, said at a regular briefing that China “is in communication with relevant parties regarding a meeting between the three heads of state.”
The three-leader meeting would be historic if it happens during a regional economic summit this month in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen. But experts say the trio may not agree on what to discuss when their interests are at odds.
Trump has said he wants to discuss nuclear arms control, while Putin is interested in discussing the war with Ukraine without Kyiv at the table.
If it happens, the meeting is certain to upset Europe, while China hopes to score a diplomatic win by facilitating the summit.
The minute-long trailer promoting the two-part series features Melania Trump in never-before-seen moments in her roles as wife, mother and first lady.
It will be available on Nov. 20. Amazon Prime Video also produced “Melania,” the documentary, which was in theaters in January.
The first lady said in a September interview on Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends” that “Melania: The Series” is different from the documentary “because it’s more conversation, one on one with me.”
She said the docuseries will have some surprises, too.
“So when I was traveling and doing all of the filming, the director was asking me questions, and there are some private questions that I will answer that people never heard before. So it’s kind of exciting,” Melania Trump said.
The mayor of Houston on Friday said the city would limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities, heralding “a new model” of immigration enforcement after Democrats swept statewide offices in Texas.
Mayor John Whitmire said the city would go after immigrants “that pose a danger, not those that are going about their family business, work and education.”
“Traffic incident will not even ... you write a citation or you warn them and they go about their way. No contact with (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) over nonviolent, non-jailable offenses. It reduces the fear and anxiety.”
Details of the change were to be spelled out in an executive order but the move by the nation’s fourth-largest city is one of the first steps to curb ICE’s powers since Tuesday’s election.
Court documents Thursday showed that the Trump administration held secret talks with Iran to deport Iranians during the war.
In its first comments since the revelation, the Department of Homeland Security justified the ongoing contacts in a statement Friday, saying that it’s common practice for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to work with countries to get travel documents.
It said it follows all “established protocols” to allow people to meet with consular officials from their country.
“As promised, the Trump Administration is employing all lawful options to execute the largest deportation operation in history,” the department said.
The judge in a lawsuit challenging the deportations questioned how the U.S. could send people back to a country where they could face a “serious threat of certain death.”
DHS did not respond to a question about the potential danger the deportees might face.
Some of the protesters climbed a construction crane and set off flares while others clashed with police Friday at the Microsoft data center site in Amsterdam. More actions were planned in other countries after U.S. elections ushered in a wave of Democrats promising to clamp down on data centers.
“We don’t want it to be built. Nobody needs it,” Nathan Timmer of the Push Back group told local broadcaster AT5. “The only thing this will be used for is AI slop. AI warfare, data surveillance, and committing genocides. We don’t want that.”
A Microsoft spokesperson said “we understand that people feel strongly about the project, and we respect their right to express those views peacefully. However, we do not condone any actions that are unlawful or that put people’s safety at risk.”
Republican incumbent Jeff Hurd defeated Democrat Dwayne Romero Friday in Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District.
Hurd was first elected to the House in 2024, representing Colorado’s rural Western Slope. He was a lawyer before entering Congress. Democrats had targeted the Republican-leaning district as a potential pickup opportunity. Romero is a retired Army officer and former state economic development official. The Associated Press declared Hurd the winner at 11:24 a.m. EST.
Constantino defeated Democrat Blake Gendebien on Friday in New York’s 21st Congressional District.
Constantino took over his father’s printing business and later founded his own, Sticker Mule. He prominently advertises his support for Trump on one of the company’s buildings. He says he was recruited to run by Trump ally Roger Stone and touts a stint as a professional boxer. He’ll replace Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik. The Associated Press declared Constantino the winner at 11:23 a.m. EST.
The new website features a series of slick renderings showing the proposed 250-foot (76 meter) arch from multiple angles where Trump wants to build it between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery.
The White House highlighted the website the morning after a federal judge blocked the Trump administration from breaking ground on the arch for 14 days.
The judge’s decision followed a vote to approve the arch by a federal planning commission stocked with the Republican president’s allies. Thursday’s 8-4 vote came after hours of public testimony in opposition to the arch.
A group of veterans joined the District of Columbia and Virginia as plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit seeking to block the arch.
