An interview between a CNN anchor and a top Trump aide turned sour Tuesday after adviser Stephen Miller blew a fuse on air while trying to defend Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Although things were generally civil between anchor Brianna Keilar and the White House deputy chief of staff for policy at the start of their discussion, probing into who exactly is running DOGE, the mood quickly turned sour when Keilar pried into who was in charge of terminating 300 employees at the National Nuclear Security Administration on Thursday—only to have the Department of Energy rescind it the next day.
“Well, in that case the secretary of energy would be the one,” Miller replied. “So what you’re describing would be the cuts in the Department of Energy, those are directed by the Senate-confirmed secretary of energy.”
“OK, so that was the secretary of energy’s mistake?” Keilar inquired.
“Well, I wouldn’t use the term mistake,” Miller retorted. “I would say that it’s pretty standard when you’re downsizing government, you make cuts, you assess those cuts. You see who needs to be rehired, you see who needs to be kept, who needs to be reevaluated.”
When Keilar described the chain of events at the Department of Energy last week as abnormal, Miller’s facade gradually began to crack as he clapped back: “I understand that even a temporary interruption in federal employment is a great crisis and catastrophe for you, and for CNN.”
As the two continued to exchange back-and-forths, that included Keilar having to clarify that she’s not a federal employee, Miller eventually snapped when Keilar said that she doesn’t believe anyone would “assert” that there’s no monetary waste in government, prompting him to yell: “Then why are you not celebrating these cuts?!
“If you agree there is waste, if you agree there is abuse, if you agree there is corruption, why are you not celebrating the cuts, the reforms that are being instituted?” Miller bellowed. “Every day that no action is taken the entire salary of American workers that are taxed disappears forever.”
“Stephen, let’s calm down,” Keilar replied. “We’re not having a debate.”
“Well you are clearly trying to debate me,” Miller quipped back. “And I will be as excited as I want to be about the fact that we are saving Americans billions of dollars.”
Miller is a mainstay in President Donald Trump’s orbit having worked on his 2016 presidential campaign and in the White House during his first term as a senior adviser. He’s largely known for authoring some of the first Trump administration’s more draconian immigration policies including the zero tolerance policies at the border.
His defense of DOGE comes after a Monday court filing from the White House clarified that Musk is not an employee nor administrator of the department. The document instead describes Musk as a “senior adviser to the president” who has “no actual or formal authority to make government decisions himself.”
