President Trump announced that Stephen Miller would replace Susie Wiles as White House chief of staff just hours after he told 60 Minutes that he’d be shaking up his team.
When 60 Minutes Correspondent Ross Douthat asked Mr. Trump whether he expected to fire anyone after Republicans lost both chambers of Congress, the president said: “I do, yeah. Little bit.”
“I love my Cabinet. I think they’re good,” he said. “But I’ll … be doing maybe a few changes.”
Mr. Trump suggested Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is safe for now, despite CBS News reporting that he asked advisers this week whether the Pentagon chief should stick around. When Douthat asked whether he has confidence in Hegseth, Mr. Trump said: “I do.”
“Look, we’ve won two wars. We’ve won Venezuela and taken out billions and billions and billions of dollars already. And we will be taking out many billions of dollars and get along very well. And, you could call it a territory, you could call it whatever you want. We won that war in less than one hour,” Mr. Trump said.
After announcing Wiles’ departure on Friday, Mr. Trump told reporters he “wanted to make a change,” adding, “sometimes in life, you have to make moves.” Wiles submitted her resignation on Thursday, a move that was tied to the GOP’s midterm defeats, CBS News reported.
Wiles is among the most powerful people to leave the Trump administration. A few Cabinet officials departed earlier this year — Attorney General Pam Bondi, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer — but otherwise, the president who rose to nationwide fame by firing people on television has largely left his team intact.
Watch the interview on 60 Minutes on Sunday, Nov. 8, at 7 p.m. ET/PT on CBS and Paramount+. And sign up for the 60 Minutes newsletter to make sure you never miss a minute.
