Miller’s moment: From the Politics Desk

Detailed summary

In today’s edition, we explore how Stephen Miller’s appointment as White House chief of staff is already making waves across Washington.

In today’s edition, we explore how Stephen Miller’s appointment as White House chief of staff is already making waves across Washington. Plus, Andrea Mitchell digs into the alleged spy scandal that’s ensnared a top tech CEO.

After the Republican drubbing in the midterm elections, President Donald Trump said he’s open to cutting a deal with Democrats on immigration and showing he can work cooperatively with the opposition.

But what Trump actually did was far more illustrative of what’s to come, as Democrats see it. Trump ousted Susie Wiles and installed as his new White House chief of staff Stephen Miller, the face of hard-line immigration enforcement and an operative who has swung a rhetorical cleaver at the party that will soon control Congress.

Miller won’t get a honeymoon from ascendant Democratic lawmakers whose party he likened last year to a “domestic extremist organization.” He’d need to shed the persona of an uncompromising Trump loyalist, and the early signs suggest he won’t, Democratic lawmakers told NBC News.

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., who is expected to become House speaker when the new Congress convenes in January, called Miller a “stone-cold racist” in remarks to reporters Monday. Jeffries said he has “zero interest” in working with Miller.

“No,” Jeffries said. “Stephen Miller is a stone-cold racist. His track record speaks for itself. And I’ve got zero interest in working with that kind of individual.”

To that end: The country’s top 16 Latino advocacy organizations are calling on the next Congress to subpoena Miller to answer for Trump’s mass deportation actions, Natasha Korecki reports. They’re also asking Congress to freeze any new funding for ICE until there is transparency in how money has already been spent.

Friends in high places: Meanwhile, advocates of the “Make America Healthy Again” movement are enthusiastically embracing Miller as a new champion of their agenda in the White House, Aria Bendix writes.

It’s a Washington scandal that has the plot…

Opening of the article, excerpted from NBC News. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.