Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham has fired back at those in his party who have dared to criticize senior Trump aide Stephen Miller.
“As to Stephen Miller,” the South Carolina senator said on Tuesday night’s episode of Fox News’ Hannity, “to my colleagues who believe you can convince Donald Trump that Stephen Miller is a liability for him, good luck with that.”
“When this clock strikes 12 on the Trump era, there will be a few people walking out the door with Donald Trump. Stephen Miller will be in that group. I want everybody to know on the Republican side.”
In addition to countless Democrats, some Republicans have come forward to offer up critiques of the White House deputy chief of staff, largely focusing on the negative impact his policies and actions are having on President Donald Trump’s popularity.
“Stephen Miller’s in the same boat,” GOP Sen. Thom Tillis said on Tuesday, shortly after calling for Noem to be fired. “This guy, after doing the stupid comments he made about Greenland, getting the president in a difficult circumstance, came out publicly and said that this guy was a terrorist before he’d even talked with anybody on the ground.”
“Stephen Miller never fails to live up to my expectations of incompetence.”
Florida state Rep. Ileana Garcia expressed concerns in a Tuesday interview with the New York Times that Miller’s bullishness on immigration could cost Trump the midterms.
“It’s gone too far. What happened Saturday was abhorrent,” she said, referring to the killing of 37-year-old ICU nurse Alex Pretti by Customs and Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis.
“I do think that [Trump] will lose the midterms because of Stephen Miller.”
The Rupert Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal published an editorial on Tuesday in which it said that Miller’s “undisciplined mass deportation and zero-immigration policy” was damaging the White House’s credibility.
Sen. Jim Banks of Indiana joined Graham in publicly expressing his support for Miller, writing in a Tuesday X post, “.@StephenM is a long time friend and trusted advisor. Grateful for his leadership and everything he does to help President Trump every day.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Press Office replied to the post with a simple retort: “He needs to be fired. Now.”
The White House stood by Miller on Tuesday, with Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt telling Axios, “Stephen Miller is one of President Trump’s most trusted and longest-serving aides. The president loves Stephen.”
The White House had previously sought to distance the president from the inflammatory remarks Miller made in the wake of Pretti’s death, in which he described the Veterans Affairs nurse as a “would-be assassin.” Noem also described Pretti as a “domestic terrorist.”
Asked about these characterizations on Monday, Leavitt told reporters, “I have not heard the president characterize Mr Pretti in that way. However, I have heard the president say he wants to let the facts and the investigation lead itself.”
The president later announced that he is aiming to “de-escalate” tensions in Minnesota by replacing Gregory Bovino with border czar Tom Homan, who will report directly to Trump.
“We have Tom Homan there now. We put him in there, he’s great,” Trump told Fox News’ Will Cain during a campaign stop in Iowa. “And they met with the governor and the mayor and everybody else. And we’re going to de-escalate a little bit.”
