Stephen Miller, the architect of Trump’s hardline mass deportation effort, is facing increasing attention and pressure as the administration shuffles deck chairs and accountability for the death of Alex Pretti at the hands of federal agents.
Kristi Noem, or ICE Barbie, spent two hours in the hotseat with Donald Trump, Susie Wiles, Karoline Leavitt, and Steven Cheung — with Miller conspicuously absent.
Axios is reporting that four anonymous sources claim Miller is responsible for the rhetoric coming out of Noem’s mouth.
“Stephen heard ‘gun’ and knew what the narrative would be: Pretti came to ‘massacre’ cops,” one of the sources said.
On Tuesday, Miller offered a statement throwing border patrol agents under the bus, saying that they may not have been “following proper protocol,” a rare retraction from Miller who likes to double down on his Nazi-like rhetoric with even more volume.
Trump is standing behind Noem, and says she is staying. Bovino is out. Homan is in.
Multiple videos blew gaping holes in the narrative created by Miller and parroted by Noem. Trump’s response was to replace border patrol commander Greg Bovino with border czar Tom Homan — who has been critical of Miller’s approach.