Stephen Miller’s friends in Washington are few and far between, a top Washington reporter has claimed.
Daily Beast political reporter Sarah Ewall-Wice says she has not met anyone during her time in Washington who would consider themselves a friend of President Donald Trump’s new chief of staff.
“I don’t know anybody who would consider themselves a friend of Stephen Miller,” she said on a Friday livestream on the Daily Beast’s Substack. “I know people who work with Stephen Miller, and people who see Stephen Miller as their boss.”
Ewall-Wice said she is not particularly close with any of Trump’s Cabinet secretaries, but she can speak to how lower-level staffers in the Trump administration feel about Trump’s new No. 2, who is now the first-ever millennial White House chief of staff.
“They’re not going to tell me if they’re friends with Stephen Miller—but when I interact with them, they’re the only people who I think smile when it comes to Stephen Miller, and that’s just kind of in passing,” she said of Trump’s Cabinet secretaries. “The staffers don’t see it that way.”
Ewall-Wice said the same applies to those who worked with Miller on Capitol Hill, where he once served as a top aide to retired Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions.
“They don’t talk about him as if they have fond memories,” she said. “We’ll put it that way.”
The White House did not respond to an email seeking comment about Ewall-Wice’s remarks.
Miller, 41, is an immigration hardliner from Santa Monica, California. During Trump’s transition period after the 2024 election, he told Fox News that immigration would be the White House’s first priority.
The Trump administration delivered on ushering in a migrant crackdown that sowed chaos in blue cities and states across the country. However, Hispanic voters, once seen as a demographic that was moving further and further right in the Trump era, were among the biggest swings back to Democrats in Tuesday’s midterm elections that ultimately got Miller’s former boss, Susie Wiles, fired this week. A Boston Globe analysis found that the five largest swings toward Democrats were all in South Texas counties with large Latino populations.
Still, top MAGA figures showed no shortage of support for Miller on Wednesday. After Trump announced his bombshell staffing change on Truth Social, X became flooded with messages from top Republicans who welcomed the change.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, himself rumored to be on the ropes professionally, appeared to be pleased with Wiles’ axing and Miller’s promotion.
“Huge CONGRATS to @StephenM—a true patriot and America First fighter,” he wrote on X mere minutes after news broke. “He never backs down—and the @DeptofWar is right there with him.”
Minutes later, Hegseth posted, “Patriots in control.” Then, in a third post, he shared a photo of him and Miller with the caption, “Stand. Fight. Defend the Republic.”
Also relishing Miller’s promotion was Corey Lewandowski—the longtime Trump aide who has faced a number of controversies this year, including rumors of an affair with Trump’s ex-DHS secretary, Kristi Noem, and allegations of financial misconduct.
“Congratulations to @StephenM on being named WH Chief of staff” Lewandwoski wrote, along with a smiling selfie. “OG Trump from 2016.”
