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Katie Miller, the wife of White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, recently departed from the Trump administration to work for Elon Musk, days before the spectacular falling out between President Donald Trump and the billionaire.
The 33-year-old Miller was one of Musk’s first hires as he established the Department of Government Efficiency and began reducing the federal workforce. She left the administration alongside him last week. Like Musk, she was designated as a “special government employee” during her time in government, which allowed her to work for Musk and Trump, as well as in the private sector, simultaneously.
Miller even helped to set up the departing press conference in the Oval Office featuring Musk and Trump, according to The Wall Street Journal. Musk and Trump’s relationship fell apart in public on Thursday, with Musk unfollowing Stephen Miller on X. Friends of Miller told the paper that she was in a difficult position between Trump and Musk.
“Katie Miller was a critical reason DOGE was able to get off the ground and deliver massive cuts to waste, fraud, and abuse for the American people,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told the outlet.
This isn’t the first time that Miller has been caught in the crossfire of a Trump feud.
Miller also worked for then-Vice President Mike Pence when Trump began attacking him for not aiding him in his attempt to overturn the 2020 election towards the end of his first term. However, at the time of the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot, she was on maternity leave.
In December last year, Miller became one of the first DOGE staffers announced by the then-president-elect. However, her work at DOGE soon became the catalyst for disagreements with the White House, where top Trump aides argued that she hadn’t sufficiently convinced Musk to work alongside the administration.
Top administration officials told The Journal that she often spoke on behalf of Musk, issued orders about what agencies should do, and how the government’s work should be communicated.
Officials were concerned about her continuing work for P2. However, she left the firm after The Journal published an article about her work there. She then also departed the White House to work for Musk, just before the blowup between the billionaire and the president.
Miller has been described as having endless energy and as being fiercely protective of her husband. Current and previous co-workers told The Journal that she could go from charming to abrasive. Those who know her told the paper that she has a “YOLO” tattoo on the inside of her lip.
Miller has at times worked for clients while lobbying the government, simultaneously addressing government issues. She quickly rose through the ranks after being hired in 2015 by Republican U.S. Sen. Steve Daines of Montana.
Former Daines aide Jason Thielman told The Journal that “Everything was always at full speed, full throttle.”
“Sometimes, she just exhausted people, and they gave her what she wanted,” he added of her battles with reporters.
She joined the Department of Homeland Security during Trump’s first term before working for Pence. It was during her time at DHS that she met Stephen Miller.
“Every Trump White House had its divisions, but she was always willing to go to bat to protect the VP’s prerogatives,” Pence’s Chief of Staff Marc Short told the paper.
Following the insurrection, Stephen Miller kept working for Trump, and she remained in Pence’s office. While she was placed on Pence’s postpresidential payroll, partly because she needed healthcare, according to Pence's advisors, his office subsequently severed connections with her after Stephen Miller began working with then-President Trump. He continued to target his former vice president.
After joining the Republican consulting firm P2 Public Affairs following Trump’s 2021 departure from office, she subsequently became the top point of contact between Musk and the 2024 Trump campaign. She often joined Musk at events and then began advising Robert F. Kennedy, who later became Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, now known as Secretary of Health and Human Services.
Pence opposed Kennedy’s appointment, and in January of this year, Miller took aim at her former boss, saying that he only had “family values” when it was “politically expedient” and called him a “footnote of American history.”
