Jeffries Cuts Ties With Miller In Brutal Post-Election Move
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries has drawn a hard line in the sand. He says his party will not work with President Trump’s new chief of staff, Stephen Miller. This vow comes just days after the midterm elections on Tuesday.
Jeffries appeared on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday to make his stance clear. He told host Jonathan Karl that the door is shut. “There’s not going to be any opportunity, certainly, to work with Stephen Miller and what he represents,” Jeffries said. The new chief of staff replaces former chief Susie Wiles. Jeffries noted he spoke often with Wiles, but those lines of contact stop now.
The new leader of the House Democrats did not mince words about the appointment. According to the New York Post, Jeffries called Miller “the architect of Donald Trump’s violent mass deportation machine.” He went further, claiming Miller’s policies led to the deaths of American citizens. Last January in Minneapolis, federal agents killed two protesters, specifically Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good, whom Jeffries named.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries calls President Trump appointing Stephen Miller as his new chief of staff an “irresponsible decision.”
“There’s not going to be any opportunity to work with Stephen Miller and what he represents. We’re committed to forcefully pushing back against the extremism that they may try to continue to unleash on the American people,” he tells ABC News’ @JonKarl.
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— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) November 8, 2026
He labeled Trump’s choice “an irresponsible decision, in my view,” per the New York Post. Jeffries argues that Miller represents a form of extremism that Democrats must fight. “And we’re committed to forcefully pushing back against the extremism that they may try to continue to unleash on the American people,” he told ABC News. He believes the recent election results give his party the power to resist.
It is not just Democrats who are questioning this move. Abdul el Sayed, a Democratic senator-elect from Michigan, spoke to the Washington Examiner. He called the appointment part of “incoherent messaging” from the Trump team. El Sayed argued it contradicts Trump’s own words about working with Congress. “Why appoint this man White House chief of staff if you want to have a productive relationship with the Congress that actually intends to deliver on the mandate that the American public has just given us? And we’ll wait to see,” el Sayed asked.
He added that Miller has done nothing to help society except make people angry. “I don’t know what Stephen Miller has actually contributed to our culture, our society, in any real way, except for to make us more angry, to stoke the worst kind of fear and vitriol, to weaponize ICE in our streets, to take American lives,” el Sayed said.
Even some Republicans are raising eyebrows. Adam Hamilton, a Democratic senator-elect from Kansas, told the Washington Examiner he was surprised by the choice. He called it a “doubling down” on past policies. “I’m actually surprised that he did that because the election was a repudiation of so much of what Trump has stood for, and I think so much of that was designed by Stephen Miller. So the idea of making him chief of staff seems really odd to me, and it’s concerning,” Hamilton said.
In January, Jeffries is scheduled to assume the role of House Speaker. The Daily Wire reports that he called Miller’s promotion “an awful choice.” The clash is already underway. Jeffries says the line of communication is broken. He will not talk to Miller. The Democrats plan to use their new numbers to block what they see as dangerous ideas. The Republicans who lost on Tuesday are also telling Trump to change course. The question remains whether the new administration will listen to the voters or stick to the old plan.