Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff who stepped down on Friday, was one of the most powerful women to have served in Mr. Trump’s second term.
The first woman to hold the top staff job in the West Wing, she helped steer Mr. Trump to his election victory in 2024, playing a central role in his return to power. On election night on Tuesday, Mr. Trump blamed Ms. Wiles for the historic Republican midterms defeat in front of others.
Now, she is also the latest in a wave of women who have left the Trump administration in the past year, as The New York Times reported last month, and one of the first to depart since Tuesday’s elections. On Thursday, Harmeet Dhillon, a top official in the Justice Department, resigned after conflicts with department leaders.
Four of Mr. Trump’s eight female cabinet-level officials resigned or were fired earlier this year: Attorney General Pam Bondi; Lori Chavez-DeRemer, the labor secretary; Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem; and Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence.
Like Ms. Wiles, all four were replaced by men.
When Mr. Trump was putting together his administration for his second term, the president-elect tapped women for many cabinet-level jobs and high-profile positions in his inner circle. Among them was Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, who gained attention as the youngest person to serve in the position. She stepped down in August.
At a Women’s History Month celebration last year, Mr. Trump declared that he was “thrilled to say that we have more women in our cabinet than any Republican president in the history of our country.”
That is no longer the case. There are now three women remaining in cabinet-level positions: Brooke Rollins, the secretary of Agriculture; Linda McMahon, the secretary of education; and Kelly Loeffler, the head of the Small Business Administration.
Jonathan Swan contributed reporting.
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