President Donald Trump was reportedly irate and lashing out behind the scenes as Republicans were wiped out in historic fashion in the midterm elections, with reporter and biographer Maggie Haberman revealing new details about the targets of his anger.

Haberman, who has had extensive access to Trump throughout his time in politics and has written multiple books about him, appeared on CNN on Saturday to discuss the continuing fallout from the midterms. During one segment, host Kaitlan Collins asked what she had heard about Trump's motivations for replacing chief of staff Susie Wiles with Stephen Miller, his top ally. The chief of staff role is typically the operational center of a White House, controlling access to the president and coordinating the administration's agenda, which is what makes a change atop that structure one of the more consequential personnel decisions a president can make.

Haberman first stressed that, as reports had suggested in the run-up to the midterms, Trump had been tiring of Wiles for some time, explaining that her departure had "been brewing for some time" and was "not a surprise" once it finally happened.

"This is not just in recent days," Haberman said. "The president has been incredibly critical of Susie Wiles behind the scenes, to her face, to other people over the course of the last, I would say, at least six months, if not longer. There have been a bunch of people inside the administration undermining her as well."

Haberman noted that Miller, despite taking over the role, was not among those in the administration who had pushed for Wiles's ouster, and was said to be fine with her staying on — a detail that leaves open the question of what capacity, if any, Wiles retains going forward.

She also revealed that Trump was particularly harsh toward Wiles on Election Night as the results poured in.

"And yes, the president berated her in front of other people on Election Night in the East Room, blamed her for the losses," Haberman said. "He had also been very critical in other circumstances of James Blair, her close associate."

In Haberman's assessment, the scale of the Republican defeat pointed beyond any single staffer. Midterm elections have historically been read as referenda on the party holding the White House, a framing that gives added weight to where accountability lands inside the administration afterward. "When you have a wave, Kaitlan, that sweeps seats from Mississippi to Maine, that's not really a tactical campaign decision," she said. "And this is a White House where the policy is largely set by the president. He does not want to be reined in. He wants decisions to be made by a small number of people."

She added that Trump had spent months berating Wiles over her failure to find the source of the so-called "leak" tied to his travel to Turkey during the NATO summit over the summer, when he was "put in the refrigerator truck." At the time, officials told everyone that he was actually aboard the plane carrying press members and cabinet members — a group that included Stephen Miller.

Source: Alternet