White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller uses graphic images and an encrypted messaging app to covertly exert influence over President Donald Trump.
A report in The Wall Street Journal says Miller, 40, has gone rogue with his extreme social media posts and uses encrypted voice and text-messaging app Signal to communicate his demands, leaving no written trail leading back to him.
Miller has expanded his influence over Trump, 79, during his second term as president. However, fractures seem to have formed in the alliance after the public backlash against brutal ICE raids in Minnesota and the killing of two U.S. citizens by federal agents.
The father of three—who together with his wife famously scored free, taxpayer-subsidized housing after claiming protest messages written in chalk outside their Arlington home were “terroristic” threats—is said to rely on “gory images” to get Trump’s attention and influence his policy decisions.
That included providing the president with a photo of former DOGE staffer Edward “Big Balls” Coristine covered in blood after an assault last year on the streets of Washington, D.C.
Trump posted the graphic photo on his Truth Social account and used the incident as part of his plan to deploy the National Guard to increase safety in D.C.
At the time, Trump said of Coristine, “We have a capital that’s very unsafe... we just almost lost a young man, beautiful, handsome guy that got the hell knocked out of him... We’re going to we’re going to do something about it.”
A teenage girl and a teenage boy, both 15, were found guilty of assault and sentenced to probation by a judge in D.C.
Hours after federal agents shot and killed Alex Pretti in Minneapolis on Jan. 24, Miller labeled the ICU nurse a “domestic terrorist” who had “tried to assassinate federal law enforcement” on his X account.
The WSJ report quotes administration officials familiar with the matter who said none of the language or rhetoric Miller was using was approved.
The publication said Miller shared a photo of Pretti’s handgun with White House insiders, which then wound up on Trump’s Truth Social page.
After the shooting, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt distanced herself from Miller’s comments, saying she spoke only for the president.
Asked by reporters why the Trump administration were jumping to conclusions, Leavitt replied, “Look, this has obviously been a very fluid and fast-moving situation throughout the weekend. As for President Trump, whom I speak for, he has said that he wants to let the investigation continue and let the facts lead in this case.”
She repeated that “I have not heard the president characterize Mr Pretti in that way” when asked about the term “domestic terrorist” used by Miller and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
The WSJ claims Miller told colleagues he was “frustrated” by the coverage of the episode.
The Rupert Murdoch-owned publication also reports that Trump has told advisers he “wasn’t comfortable” with how extreme Miller’s views on immigration are, which has led to a backlash with voters.
Katie Miller, the deputy chief of staff’s MAGA podcaster wife, has taken to boosting many of his most incendiary claims on social media, and appeared to engage in damage control on his behalf last week amid outrage over Pretti’s killing.
Trump has reportedly said he has received complaints from business leaders who have had experienced staff ejected from America as part of Miller’s demand for 3,000 immigrant arrests daily if agents wanted to keep their jobs.
The WSJ reports that Miller “often speaks in sentences that can seem to stretch for minutes” to his White House colleagues, and then asks “rhetorical questions designed to persuade colleagues to see matters his way.”
This kind of behavior has apparently not gone unnoticed by Trump, who reportedly quipped to Miller back in 2024, “Stephen… if you had it your way, everyone would look exactly like you.”
Miller has Secret Service protection, unlike the majority of his colleagues, and asked the FBI and DOJ to investigate protesters, including those who have doxxed him by posting his home address online, according to Trump administration officials.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
