Miller memo reportedly restructures White House staff, empowers Cabinet on messaging
The memo, which Fox News said it viewed, has not been published, and the account of how Susie Wiles ran the White House comes from unnamed sources.
White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller’s office reportedly circulated an internal memo after he took over Nov. 9 that reorganizes West Wing operations and gives Cabinet secretaries more control over their departments’ messaging, Fox News Digital reported Nov. 11.
“Each cabinet leader serves as the best leader and communicator for their individual Departments,” the memo states, according to Fox.
The memo renames the Cabinet secretary position “Director of Cabinet Relations,” a role meant to support the cabinet secretaries. The Office of Presidential Scheduling will report to Chamberlain Harris, deputy director of outer oval operations. Caleb Orr, a former assistant secretary of state for economic and business affairs, becomes chief of staff for policy. Policy will run through the deputy chief of staff for policy and the national security adviser, with no overlapping portfolios.
Two unnamed sources told Fox the changes would streamline the Cabinet and let secretaries run their own departments.
A former Trump administration official said former chief of staff Susie Wiles ran nearly all administration communications for roughly the first two years of the second term and warned secretaries they would be blamed for midterm losses if they strayed from the script. Fox did not independently verify those claims. The report did not say how it obtained the memo or publish its text. Wiles did not respond to Fox’s request for comment, and the report included no on-the-record White House statement about the memo.
Trump announced Nov. 6 that Miller would replace Wiles, days after Democrats won control of the House and Senate, while Wiles moves to Trump’s political operation.
Axios reported that Trump blamed her for the losses, and an unnamed adviser called Miller “a wartime adviser” as Democrats prepare congressional investigations. Wiles said serving Trump was “the honor of a lifetime,” according to AP News.
Public reaction so far has centered on Miller’s promotion rather than the memo. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., the expected future Speaker of the House, said on ABC’s “This Week” that “there’s not going to be an opportunity, certainly, to work with Stephen Miller and what he represents.”
White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis said Miller “has been a key player in delivering on President Trump’s America First agenda since day one,” citing his work on crime, deregulation, energy, cartels, and border security.
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