Stephen Miller Cleared Out His Predecessor’s Right Hand Before He Even Took Over

Susie Wiles got shoved out as White House chief of staff after Republicans took a beating in the midterms.

Stephen Miller takes her chair on November 9, and the purge already started.

One of Wiles's most loyal lieutenants was gone before Miller's first morning behind the desk.

Richard Walters Was One of Wiles's Most Trusted Hands

Richard Walters ran Trump's 2025 inaugural committee.

He held senior posts at the Republican National Committee.

He worked all three of Trump's presidential campaigns.

He landed the job of White House deputy chief of staff and sat close to Wiles the entire time.

He is gone now, days before Miller officially takes the gavel.

Miller confirmed the departure himself in a statement to Fox News.

He called Walters an important member of the administration and said Walters would keep helping the White House from outside the building.

Nobody is pretending this is a coincidence.

Walters was Wiles's guy. Wiles is out. Walters is out right behind her.

Wiles announced the move on Thursday, November 5.

She said it plainly: "Today is my last day as White House Chief of Staff."

She called the job "the honor of a lifetime" and said her role "may be changing" but her loyalty to Trump "never will."

Trump thanked her publicly and said she had "done a great job!"

Then he handed the keys to Miller.

An anonymous White House source told reporters Miller is a "war time consigliere" and that installing him "probably sends the best possible message to the base."

Karoline Leavitt called him the "perfect choice" to carry the final two years of the term.

Pete Hegseth posted two words on X: "Patriots in control."

Trump called Miller "one of my most trusted advisors." He did not say a word about Walters.

The Last Time an Incoming Chief of Staff Cleaned House

This is not the first time a new White House chief of staff arrived and started pulling up the old regime's floorboards.

In July 2017, Trump fired Reince Priebus and installed retired Marine General John Kelly.

Kelly moved fast. He fired communications director Anthony Scaramucci on his very first full day in the job, and Steve Bannon was gone less than three weeks later.

Miller is not Kelly. He is not an outside general brought in to impose discipline on a White House he views as chaotic.

He is a true believer who has built his entire career inside Trump's orbit, not an outsider cleaning house for its own sake.

But the early read inside the building matches the read people had in 2017: a new chief of staff means a new staff, whether the departures get announced as firings or framed as a lieutenant moving on to "help from outside."

Washington had been bracing for staff changes for days before Wiles's exit became official.

Walters's departure is described as an early move in a shake-up expected to run through the rest of Trump's senior team.

What Miller's Arrival Means for Trump's Final Two Years

Miller was not handed a caretaker job.

He was handed the chair with explicit instructions, in Leavitt's words, to make the final two years "a resounding success" after a midterm cycle that cost Republicans control of both chambers of Congress.

Democrats flipped the House and the Senate on the same night, a wipeout Republican strategists are still trying to explain to nervous donors. Miller inherits the job of proving the last two years of the term can still be a win despite that result.

Walters's exit tells you Miller intends to build a team that answers to him, not one that still answers to Wiles.

Steven Cheung said he feels indebted to Wiles for bringing him back into Trump's orbit in the first place – proof of how deep her network ran through this West Wing.

Every name still standing from that network is now on notice.

What he is building underneath Miller is the real story, and Walters walking out the door first is the first hard evidence of what that rebuild looks like.

Sources:

• John Solomon, "Deputy Chief of Staff Walters Leaves White House Ahead of Miller's Arrival as Chief of Staff," Just the News, November 8, 2026.
• The Daily Wire Staff, "Trump Fires Susie Wiles as Chief of Staff, Taps Stephen Miller," The Daily Wire, November 6, 2026.
• FOX 26 Houston Staff, "Trump Names John Kelly as White House Chief of Staff, Priebus Out," FOX 26 Houston, July 29, 2017.
• Ryan Girdusky, "The 2026 Trump Collapse: Anatomy of a Republican Disaster," The Daily Wire, November 5, 2026.