Stephen Miller’s rise to the top of President Donald Trump’s White House got a quiet push from someone very close to home.
Katie Miller, Stephen Miller’s wife, spent weeks urging people in Trump’s orbit to call the president and pitch her husband as Susie Wiles’ successor before Trump tapped him for chief of staff, Politico reported Friday, citing two people with direct knowledge of her role.
Her outreach picked up after Tuesday’s election, when Republicans suffered a stinging midterm defeat. She placed roughly six calls to figures close to Trump, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and several people in Vice President JD Vance’s circle, according to two people familiar with the calls.
She told those she reached that her husband should be the pick if Wiles stepped aside, adding, “I would appreciate if you could share that message,” according to one person with direct knowledge.
The effort played out while the White House was loudly denying that Trump was considering a replacement for Wiles. Politico Playbook reported in October that the president had been sounding out friends about possible successors.
People familiar with Katie Miller’s calls told the outlet she never pushed to have Wiles removed, and that her most recent round came only once it was obvious Trump wanted a new chief of staff.
“He started telling people he was done with Susie,” one source said of the days after the election. “This is what happens when you get creamed.”
Other names Trump privately discussed included Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte, special envoy Steve Witkoff, former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and New York Yankees President Randy Levine, while Lee Zeldin and Sergio Gor were also mentioned. One White House adviser said the idea of Pulte running the West Wing had rattled many in the Trump administration.
Discontent with Wiles had been simmering throughout the campaign, but the GOP’s drubbing effectively ended her tenure, according to the report.
“There was just no saving Susie. She knew that,” said one person close to the White House.
Wiles, who recently went through chemotherapy for breast cancer, had already been weighing an exit after the midterms, two other sources said.
“She loves the job — it’s the job of a lifetime, but you have no life,” one of them said.
Katie Miller, who declined to comment, worked at the Department of Homeland Security during Trump’s first term and later joined Elon Musk’s DOGE operation before launching a podcast featuring top administration officials. The White House did not immediately respond to Politico’s request for comment.
The post Secret phone blitz on Stephen Miller’s behalf greased his path to new job: report appeared first on Raw Story.
