The White House deputy chief of staff has privately said he fears a presidential pardon won’t protect him once President Donald Trump leaves office, according to a new profile from Zeteo.
Miller has told people he believes state and local prosecutors want to put him in a “prison cell.” A presidential pardon covers federal crimes. It does nothing to stop state or local charges.
His worries go further. Zeteo reported Miller has also talked about civil lawsuits and congressional investigations. He has raised concerns that a future Democratic administration could find ways around Trump’s clemency. He has also complained that “lawfare” could drain him and his wife, Katie Miller, financially for years.
Trump is shielded by the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity ruling. His aides are not.
Miller was the chief architect of the administration’s crackdown in the Twin Cities. Two administration sources told Zeteo that after people were killed during the Minnesota operation, Miller told Trump and top officials that Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino had acted like a buffoon. Colleagues saw it as an attempt to cover himself.
His political trouble may come first. Emptywheel’s Marcy Wheeler pointed to polling that shows Democrat James Talarico ahead of Ken Paxton in the Texas Senate race and Gina Hinojosa within reach of Gov. Greg Abbott, though both races have likely tightened. She credited Miller’s immigration crackdown with pushing Latino voters toward Democrats.
If Republicans lose Texas, Wheeler wrote, Miller “will be the obvious scapegoat.”
