Republican Sen. Thom Tillis on Sunday said the next Trump administration official on the chopping block should be deputy White House chief of staff Stephen Miller.
“Not only does Stephen really want to just paint a picture. He’s not worried about substance. He’s more worried about form,” Tillis said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“I also think that he has an outsized influence over the operations of the Cabinet,” Tillis continued. “And I believe we have got qualified Cabinet members there that sometimes are doing less than what they want to because of his direction and his outsized influence.”
The North Carolina senator, who is retiring at the end of his current term, went on to say that Miller was “out of his depth” and has been “repeatedly responsible for embarrassments” affecting the administration.
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Tillis had previously criticized Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, including in a scathing response to Noem’s testimony before the Senate’s Judiciary Committee just hours before she was fired from her role last week.
Tillis told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday he was happy with Trump’s decision to replace Noem with Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin.
“I’m glad the president made the decision,” Tillis said. “Secretary Noem may have been effective as the governor in South Dakota, but it’s very clear that her experience didn’t scale to something the size and scope of Homeland Security.”
Miller, who also serves as Trump’s homeland security adviser, has been a longtime staple in the president’s inner circle and has assumed a prominent role in formulating and implementing Trump’s political agenda — particularly immigration enforcement.
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham defended Miller last month, after he said the administration needed a “more aggressive” immigration approach.
“People can disagree with Stephen on rhetoric and they can disagree with him on policy, but the question is, ‘Is Stephen Miller in jeopardy in Trump World?’ Absolutely not,” Graham said.
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