A Republican senator is openly calling for President Donald Trump to fire one of his closest and most powerful advisers.
Will Trump heed the call?
In a fiery attack, Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., went on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday and said White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller needs to immediately be fired.
“It gives me pause that you have people like Stephen Miller calling the shots,” Tillis said. “It was Stephen Miller that was talking about a terrorist brandishing a gun. It was Stephen Miller who said it was the position of the United States that we should go after Greenland. It was Stephen Miller who has been repeatedly responsible for embarrassment for the President of the United States by acting too quickly.”
When Tapper asked directly whether Tillis wants Miller fired, the senator didn’t hesitate.
“Oh, of course I do,” he said. “He’s not worried about substance. He’s more worried about form. But I also think that he has an outsized influence over the operations of the Cabinet. And I believe we’ve got qualified Cabinet members there that sometimes are doing less than what they want to because of his direction and his outsized influence. He’s a big problem in this administration, he has been from the beginning.”
The blast at Miller came just days after Trump fired Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, which Tillis said he welcomed. The retiring North Carolina senator had been one of Noem’s loudest critics in Washington, D.C. and accused her of demonstrating “anything but exceptional leadership” at DHS.
The senator praised Trump’s pick to replace Noem — Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) — and predicted the incoming DHS secretary would handle Miller differently.
“If the Markwayne Mullin I know in the Senate goes over to Homeland Security, then he’s going to tell Stephen Miller to stay in his lanes and let him run the agency,” Tillis said. “I think Stephen Miller’s demonstrated he, too, is out of his depth. And I think Markwayne will learn from that.”
Miller is not without his defenders. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., led more than a dozen Republican lawmakers in signing a statement last month praising Miller’s contributions to the administration.
“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. “Because of him and other members of the president’s team, critical priorities like stopping deadly fentanyl, unleashing America’s energy, and bringing much-needed economic relief to Americans have been achieved.”
Miller has served as deputy chief of staff for policy and homeland security adviser since Trump’s return to office in 2025. He is widely regarded as the architect of some of the administration’s most aggressive policies on illegal immigration.
Tillis, who is not seeking re-election when his term ends in 2027, has repeatedly positioned himself as a contrarian voice and criticized the Trump administration.