Katie Miller’s Secret Campaign to Make Hubby Trump’s Top Dog Revealed
Stephen Miller’s wife called dozens of Trump allies in a bid to tip the balance.
Jonathan Ernst/REUTERS
Katie Miller covertly lobbied for weeks for her husband, MAGA hardliner Stephen Miller, to be appointed White House chief of staff.
The MAGA podcaster said Friday she was at a “loss for words” after seeing an “outpouring of support” for her husband taking on the role, but Politico reports that she had actually been a driving force for that support behind the scenes. Two insiders told the publication that she’d made dozens of calls to people close to Trump over several weeks to get them to recommend her husband as a replacement for Susie Wiles.
Katie Miller told people she called that if Wiles were to leave it should be her husband to replace her and “I would appreciate if you could share that message,” a source told the publication.
Trump has long sought advice from allies and aides in phone calls before hiring or firing officials.
President Donald Trump, with White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, speaks during an event to sign executive orders related to birthright citizenship and the polysilicon industry, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, US, August 6, 2026.
Evelyn Hockstein/REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/File Photo
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House and Katie Miller for comment.
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Stephen Miller has long been among Trump’s most powerful and divisive aides, and is the architect of the president’s harsh anti-immigration policies. He previously served as Trump’s Homeland Security adviser and deputy chief of staff for policy.
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His appointment as chief of staff in the wake of the crushing GOP defeat in the midterms has caused shockwaves. Republican critics have pointed to his role in creating policies rejected by millions of voters in Tuesday’s election, and believe his unpopularity could further alienate voters as the GOP figures out how to claw back support in the wake of the defeat.
The Millers are a MAGA power couple, with Katie Miller having served as spokesperson on the president’s COVID task force during his first term and, more recently, working on Elon Musk’s DOGE task force and starting a podcast. The Millers married in 2020, in a lavish ceremony attended by the president and First Lady Melania Trump.
Rumors had swirled for weeks that Trump was considering replacing Wiles, a longtime Florida political operative who masterminded his political comeback after his 2020 defeat. After the scale of Tuesday’s shock defeat became apparent, Wiles’ departure was announced by Trump on Truth Social.
Wiles, 69, underwent cancer treatment earlier this year, and reports began surfacing even before the midterms that she was likely on her way out. One unnamed source told CNN she opted to step down after it became clear Trump was unhappy with her in the wake of the elections wipeout.
According to Politico, others in the running to replace Wiles were Bill Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Steve Witkoff, the president’s foreign policy envoy, former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, and Randy Levine, the president of the New York Yankees.
One of Politico’s sources said that in appointing Miller, Trump was sending a signal to MAGA voters.
“It’s a signal to the base that, you know, the White House hears you,” said one of the sources.
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