A Gray Cardinal With Belarusian Roots Has Been Found In The White House
- 16.05.2025, 8:50
He secretly runs the DOJ.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has almost no autonomy in her post and is subject to directives from the White House, particularly from 39-year-old deputy chief of staff Steven Miller, at least 20 current and former agency officials told the New York Times (NYT). Miller has Belarusian roots, writes RTVI.US.
U.S. President Donald Trump nominated Bondi, 59, who previously held a similar position in Florida, after former Congressman Matt Getz declined the post amid a sex scandal. The NYT's interlocutors said the Trump administration initially assumed that Miller, who has no law degree, would actually oversee the DOJ anyway.
"Decisions are made in the White House and come down to the Justice Department, which is very, very atypical," former department official Elizabeth Oyer told the NYT.
Oyer was previously fired for refusing to restore the right to bear arms to actor Mel Gibson at the request of the Trump administration. Gibson has publicly expressed support for the Republican.
Miller has previously worked for Trump during his first term as president, including writing his 2017 inaugural address. He is known as a supporter of extreme right-wing views, favors maximizing immigration policy, free carry of guns and has been suspected of adhering to the theory of white supremacy. He has called Trump "the most gifted politician of our time" and a "style icon."
Miller's maternal ancestors emigrated to the United States from the Russian Empire, the town of Antopol in present-day Belarus, because of Jewish pogroms. The political strategist was born in California and earned a bachelor's degree in political science from Duke University in North Carolina.
In addition to serving as Trump's deputy chief of staff, Miller is the president's homeland security adviser and has also been mentioned as a possible candidate for national security adviser. Trump noted in an interview in response to a related question that Miller's current position in the administration is "higher on the totem pole" than that position. Former congressman Mike Waltz was previously fired from his post as national security adviser amid the Signal messenger scandal involving the forwarding of military plans.
NYT adds that Bondi has accepted the role of "dedicated enforcer and mouthpiece," but was initially unhappy that Trump appointed two of his personal attorneys Todd Blanch and Emile Bove as her deputies. According to the newspaper's interlocutors, they have power at the DOJ "comparable" to Bondi's. She also failed to get her nominee, Florida Sheriff Chad Chronister, to head the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) amid criticism of him by Miller.
Bondi also had disagreements with the White House over specific procedural actions. For example, the attorney general suggested that Trump pardon only those participants in the January 6, 2021 Capitol assault who were convicted of non-violent offenses. She learned about the president's decision to pardon everyone on the first day after the inauguration after the fact.
The White House found a "gray cardinal" with Belarusian roots - he secretly runs the Justice Department
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi is almost deprived of autonomy in her post and is subject to directives from the White House, in particular from the 39-year-old deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, said the New York Times...