Stephen Miller ‘top contender’ to become new National Security Adviser
Stephen Miller, President Donald Trump’s deputy chief of staff for policy, is a “top candidate” to become the next national security adviser, according to reports.
Miller, the architect behind some of the Trump administration’s most aggressive immigration policies, is in line to replace ousted Mike Waltz following the “embarrassing” Signalgate scandal, according to Axios.
Waltz was moved from his role as Trump’s national security adviser Thursday after the president tapped him to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
Miller is reported to be “the perfect choice,” according to the outlet, as he is one of Trump’s most trusted and loyal aides.
“Given how well he’s worked with Marco, many see him as the perfect person to restore the role of the NSA to a staff-level policy role that reports to the chief of staff, instead of some inflated Cabinet position,” an insider told Axios.
“Marco and Stephen have worked really closely on immigration and it might be a perfect match,” another told the outlet.
But a fifth source told the outlet that Miller may turn down the job “if it takes him away from his true love: immigration policy.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio is currently serving as interim national security adviser, on top of his other duties at the State Department.
Miller has long worked in Trumpworld, dating to the president’s 2016 campaign as a speechwriter before serving as a senior adviser in the first administration.
“I call Stephen ‘Trump’s brain,” former House speaker Kevin McCarthy told The New York Times earlier this year.
Miller helped craft the “zero tolerance” policy that separated migrant children from their parents and also had a hand in the Trump administration’s travel ban from majority-Muslim countries.
While Trump was out of office, Miller spent time working up the blueprints for how a second term would go.
At Trump’s campaign rally in Madison Square Garden last year, Miller told the crowd: “America is for Americans and Americans only.”
Miller prioritized expanding hard-line immigration policies and “deepened” ties with influential right-wing media figures, House members and senators, The Times previously reported.
He was also responsible for fostering the relationship with Elon Musk, according to the outlet.
