Trump signals more firings on the way after midterm wipeout

[0:00] Trump says tonight more firings could be coming as he's publicly spinning his party's massive [0:06] defeat. President Trump just speaking at the Kennedy Space Center, which is his first major [0:10] speech since the election. But as you're about to hear, Trump is not taking the blame. [0:17] Despite the $3 trillion lost yesterday, you know, our country lost $3 trillion all because of an [0:24] election. I wonder what that means. If we would have gained $3 trillion, I probably would have [0:29] been more unhappy. But you know what that means? That means that they thought somebody else did [0:35] well in the election. By the way, I was not on the ballot, just in case you had any question. [0:40] Because if we were on the ballot, we would have won. But we weren't. [0:45] So he said, I wasn't on the ballot. If we were on the ballot, referring to himself, [0:49] that Republicans would have won. But I just want to remind everybody, in the context of what he [0:55] just said there, what he said days before the election. [0:58] You have to do the one thing. Pretend I'm on the ballot. Pretend I'm on the ballot. [1:06] But in this election, I'm asking you to pretend I'm on the ballot just one more time. [1:11] So what I really want you to do is pretend, please, that I'm on the ballot. [1:17] Well, it, of course, seemed like the American public did that. They did vote like he was on [1:24] the ballot. And we are just getting in more results from the historic midterms. [1:28] Democrat Nancy LaCour flipping the seat that was once held by Nancy Mace, obviously. So that's [1:33] going R to D. 99 percent of the vote now in. And LaCour leads the Republican. Jenny Costa [1:38] Honeycutt by more than 3,000 votes. Now, that gives Democrats 254 seats compared to 163 for [1:45] Republicans and puts Democrats on the path to their, excuse me, largest gains since Watergate. [1:50] And at this hour, Democrats are still leading in four districts currently being held by Republicans. [1:55] And today, with all of this fallout, a major shakeup at the White House after the GOP collapse, [2:02] Trump elevating his controversial top deputy Stephen Miller to become his new chief of staff. [2:06] And it takes place right away. There's no two weeks notice. This is Monday. Stephen Miller's [2:10] going to walk in and be the chief of staff, replacing Susie Wiles. As of tonight, that's [2:14] the highest ranking White House official to leave Trump's White House in the wake of the [2:19] colossal Republican collapse, a wipeout that sources tell CNN has left Trump fuming. And maybe you [2:25] could even see from that speech today uncertain as to how to deal with it. And despite saying [2:30] he'd work with Democrats after those losses by promoting Miller, Trump is sending, obviously, [2:36] the complete opposite signal, calling Miller a great manager and also saying that he gets [2:40] it politically. But voters overwhelmingly from across the United States have rejected Trump's [2:47] actions in office. And with Miller in charge, right, it's continuity. And it's continuity [2:51] on some of the most controversial policies, showing that perhaps Trump is prepared to veer even harder [2:56] to the right. Miller is the architect behind the aggressive ICE raids and mass deportations, [3:01] after all. [3:01] To all ICE officers, you have federal immunity in the conduct of your duties. And anybody who lays [3:10] a hand on you or tries to stop you or tries to obstruct you is committing a felony. You [3:16] have immunity to perform your duties. Either we all side and get behind President Trump to [3:22] remove these terrorists from our communities, or we let a rogue, radical left judiciary shut [3:28] down the machinery of our national security apparatus. [3:30] Of course, he's also one of Trump's biggest cheerleaders when it comes to the rest of his agenda. [3:35] Julia Bentonbrook begins our coverage out front live. She's at the Kennedy Space Center. [3:38] That's where President Trump just spoke. And Julia, what else are you learning about this? [3:43] I mean, obviously, it gets announced on a Friday. It takes place on a Monday, right? [3:47] This is abrupt, to say the very least. What are you learning about why Susie Wiles is out [3:52] and Stephen Miller is in as chief of staff? [3:54] It is going to happen quickly. And the one thing that is clear is that Trump is frustrated and he has [4:02] been looking at strategy, at things that went wrong. And Susie Wiles, the current chief of staff, [4:08] is taking at least part of the blame for that. Now, I did want to note that here at this event, [4:13] you know, in Florida, Republicans did come out on top in those big races, Ashley Moody in the Senate, [4:18] Byron Donald in the governor's race. They were both here, but even they won by less significant [4:24] margins than they had hoped. So Republicans are really questioning all the things that took place [4:30] here. Susie Wiles will be replaced by deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller. And as you pointed out, [4:36] he is one of the more polarizing figures in this administration. He played a key role in [4:41] orchestrating Trump's hard line immigration agenda. According to a source familiar with the [4:47] matter, Wiles turned in her resignation last night. She will move to the political operation [4:53] in Trump's world. And that is all going to go into effect on Monday. It seemed at first like Trump [4:59] was somewhat unfazed by these sweeping losses. He's just kept saying, you know, I wasn't on the ballot. [5:05] That's really what took place here. But we are learning that he was frustrated even during that [5:10] viewing party in the East Room. And that frustration has only grown as he has continued [5:15] to watch the negative media coverage. And when he was on his way here today, he said [5:20] that he thought that he just needed a change. He praised Wiles, but he said he thought he just [5:25] needed a change and that he believes Miller gets it. He's circling the wagons. He's shrinking [5:31] the circle and he's getting ready for war. I think any idea that he's going to moderate here [5:36] is unrealistic. You know, he's not going to compromise with the Democrats. He's getting [5:41] ready for a fight. And he's putting Hegseth into that circle. I think he's going to be more extreme. [5:47] He's going to be more radical. He's going to be more unpredictable. You know, it was a blue wave, [5:50] but it was powered by independent water. And that's really where he lost the country. He lost [5:54] independence almost two to one to the Democrats. And they want to see moderation. They want to see him [5:58] in check. But he's ready to go. And I think it's really important to underscore that in the next [6:02] two months, he might be at his most dangerous. A cornered animal is a dangerous animal, [6:07] especially when it comes to national security. So there's no limit to what he could do with Iran, [6:11] Cuba, here domestically. And I think we're in for some very dangerous times after this honeymoon [6:15] period the Democrats have had. I mean, I mean, so let me just remind people of some of the things. [6:18] I mean, I talked about Stephen Miller as the architect of ICE, right? But he also has gone along [6:24] with Trump on all of some of the lowest common denominator, culture war comments that he's [6:29] made. Talking about Robert De Niro, he called him a sad, bitter, broken old man. He talked [6:34] about James Tallarico, who just won in Texas when he goes in for a blood test. Blood doesn't come [6:39] out. They say milk comes out. He's clearly transitioning to a female. These are all things [6:43] Stephen Miller said. And I can go on and on. But this is who is now the chief of staff. [6:48] Yeah. And I worked with Stephen Miller in the first Trump administration, and he is about as [6:54] extreme as they get. And one of the things that I think has stuck out most to me during Trump 2.0 [7:01] is in the aftermath of our government murdering Alex Preddy in cold blood in the street. [7:07] What did Stephen Miller tweet out? That he was a domestic terrorist. And that is the person that [7:13] Trump just appointed. And I have to say that I think Stephen Miller is a horrible human being to [7:17] just in general and a racist, a bigot. I could keep going, but I won't waste our airtime with [7:22] that. But what I have to say, too, is that this is just poor political instincts on the president's [7:26] part, because Stephen Miller is the chief person responsible for blowing up his coalition with [7:32] Latino voters, people who voted and sent him back into the White House in 2024. That is what [7:38] Stephen Miller is responsible for, because he took one of the GOP's best issues, border and [7:42] immigration, and made it one of the biggest liabilities with his cruel and inhumane mass [7:46] deportations. Yep. So Trump just gave an interview after this to 60 Minutes, or he might have done it [7:51] just before, but we just got the sound afterwards, where he says that more people are going to be [7:56] fired from the administration. Here's how he put it. In a previous lifetime, you were rather famous [8:04] for saying you're fired quite often. After a big midterm defeat like this, do you expect to fire [8:10] anyone from your team? I do. Yeah. You do? A little bit. A little bit? I love my cabinet. I think [8:15] they're good. But I'll be doing maybe a few changes. I don't want to mention who. Well, as tough as it [8:23] was for Susie Wiles to lose her job, she did better than Reince Priebus in 2017 when Donald Trump left [8:29] him on the tarmac in Long Island after he was fired unceremoniously. And so at least she didn't travel [8:35] all the way to the trip today and then have to find our way home. Listen, Donald Trump has given America [8:40] the big middle finger. What he's decided is it doesn't matter what you said on Tuesday. It [8:44] doesn't matter that you didn't you didn't you reject everything that we've done over the last [8:48] 20, 22 months. I'm still going to do whatever it is I want to do. And everybody's just going to have [8:54] to take it. And I think maybe it doesn't hurt him. But for every Republican who's thinking about [8:59] running for president in 2028, they're going to have to live with the whole Donald Trump. Donald [9:04] Trump is digging for Republicans. Paul started off by saying that the Trump's ready for war with this [9:08] and referring to war with with Democrats. His initial comment, Ryan, was he's going to work [9:12] with them. But then you have Robert Garcia, who's expected to be the House Oversight Chairman in a [9:16] Democratic House, who said that Miller should, quote unquote, lawyer up. That was in all caps. And that [9:21] was hours after the election. I don't know if that's related to what happened here today. But Trump going [9:27] ahead and choosing Stephen Miller as his chief of staff, that you can see the front lines of this war [9:33] right there. Yeah. And it actually does change the equation for the Democrats going after Stephen [9:38] Miller or trying to tell him to lawyer up. In other words, that they're going to investigate him [9:42] because as chief of staff, he does come with potential legal protections that he otherwise [9:47] wouldn't have. And it's based on longstanding Justice Department theories that they say that [9:52] there's absolute immunity. The chief of staff is the president's alter ego. And as his alter ego, [9:57] he does not have to appear before Congress. He cannot be subpoenaed before Congress. [10:01] The Democrats can litigate that. There's some good case law for that. But that's a clash in the [10:06] courts. Do they really want to do that? Do they want to give this to the U.S. Supreme Court, [10:09] which has a maximalist view of presidential authority and could easily side with the White House? [10:13] So it does put in something else into the equation when they think about Stephen Miller, [10:17] who would otherwise be a great witness for them.