Former Trump aide warns potential Susie Wiles replacement is ‘a terrifying prospect’
Por Joe Sommerlad — – World RSS Feed
Former Trump aide warns potential Susie Wiles replacement is ‘a terrifying prospect’
Ex-White House deputy press secretary Sarah Matthews has shared her views on who could succeed Trump’s chief of staff, if the president decides to remove Wiles
Joe Sommerlad Monday 19 October 2026 12:26 BST
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A former White House aide has said the idea of President Donald Trump picking Stephen Miller as his next chief of staff in place of Susie Wiles is “a terrifying prospect.”
Rumors began to swirl in Washington late last week that Wiles, who helped mastermind Trump’s 2024 election win, could be the next to depart the president’s top team in the wake of the Katie Zacharia debacle and with a potential Republican midterms wipeout on the cards.
The president reportedly hired the inexperienced Zacharia as White House press secretary over Wiles’ head, undermining her authority and her efforts to draft in CNN pundit Scott Jennings to be Karoline Leavitt’s successor, only for Trump’s choice to be ousted after just five disastrous days in the job.
Politico reported Thursday the president has been putting in calls to sound out possible replacements for Wiles, with Miller – the anti-immigration hardliner currently serving as Trump’s deputy chief of staff – Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, ex-House speaker Kevin McCarthy and New York Yankees executive Randy Levine among the names being floated.
open image in gallerySpeaking to MediasTouch journalist Jack Cocchiarella Sunday, ex-White House deputy press secretary Sarah Matthews said of the situation: “It seems like Trump is unhappy with the way things are right now and the headlines and the way his administration is going, so he is seeming to blame Susie Wiles.
“She’s kind of on the outs, and he’s been doing his favorite thing, which is calling around, seeing what people think of different names that he floats.”
“He said that he’s sticking with Susie, but we know that he’s making these calls. And one of those names is Stephen Miller.
“That is a terrifying prospect, because I think that Susie Wiles, while she is complicit in the horrors of this administration, I don’t think she’s crazy. Stephen Miller is bats*** crazy.
“In the last two years of Trump’s administration, when he’s going to be spiraling because he’s a lame duck president, I think he’s going to pardon everyone at the end. So he thinks he can get away with murder. The idea of someone like a Stephen Miller in charge is a very scary thing.”
A White House spokesperson has told The Independent that Wiles is going nowhere, rejecting Politico’s reporting.
open image in gallery“These anonymous sources know nothing,” they said. “President Trump assembled a united team focused on his America First agenda – not the egos and political games of anonymous outsiders.”
Trump himself told Politico Wiles has “has my COMPLETE confidence” and accused the outlet of not caring about “facts, integrity, or honest journalism.”
For her part, Matthews resigned from the White House after the January 6 Capitol riot, subsequently testifying before the House Select Committee on the attack and, by doing so, earning the lifetime enmity of the president and his MAGA supporters.
Matthews recently attacked Trump over his habit of posting AI memes on Truth Social by likening it to “watching his brain rot in real time.”
She told Cocchiarella in their interview that, during her own time with the Trump administration in the second half of his first term, Miller had sometimes sat in on briefing preparations with Kayleigh McEnany, one of Zacharia’s predecessors.
“Stephen would sometimes come into her office and help consult if we felt like we needed his guidance on something or advice,” Matthews recalled. “Him and I would chit-chat here and there, but we weren’t particularly close.”
More about
Donald TrumpSusie WilesStephen MillerKatie ZachariaKaroline Leavitt
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