Stephen Miller has privately voiced a fear that pardon power won't be enough to protect him once President Donald Trump leaves office.
A new Zeteo profile of the White House deputy chief of staff, highlighted Wednesday by emptywheel's Marcy Wheeler, reported that Miller has told people he believes local and state prosecutors are out to put him in a "prison cell." As Zeteo pointed out, a federal pardon doesn't shut down state or local prosecutions the way it would a federal case.
Miller's worries reportedly go beyond criminal charges. According to Zeteo, he has also talked about civil lawsuits and congressional investigations, and he has expressed concern that a future Democratic administration could look for creative ways around Trump's clemency. He has also complained that the left will use "lawfare" to drain him and his wife, podcaster and former Trump official Katie Miller, financially for years to come.
Trump himself has broader protection thanks to the Supreme Court's presidential immunity ruling, but Zeteo noted that the same shield does not extend to his aides.
Wheeler, however, argued that legal exposure probably isn't what keeps Miller up at night. She pointed to polling that still shows Democrat James Talarico ahead of Ken Paxton in the Texas Senate race and Gina Hinojosa within reach of Gov. Greg Abbott, though she acknowledged both contests have likely tightened as conservative money pours into the state. She also cited CNN's Harry Enten, who argued that Abbott's redistricting push is starting to look like it could backfire on Republicans.
Wheeler wrote that a dramatic shift among Latino voters toward Democrats is driven partly by voter frustration over affordability, but she credited Miller's immigration crackdown with tipping the balance. If Republicans lose Texas, even just the Senate seat and a few of the targeted House districts, she wrote, "Stephen Miller will be the obvious scapegoat."
Zeteo's profile suggests Miller knows how to deflect blame. Two administration sources told the outlet that after the killings during the Trump administration's Minnesota operation, Miller told Trump and other top officials that Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino had behaved like a buffoon, even though Miller had been the chief architect of the Twin Cities crackdown. The sources said colleagues privately rolled their eyes, viewing it as an obvious effort to protect himself.
Wheeler wrote that she hopes Democrats someday hold Miller legally and financially accountable. But if Texas flips, she suggested, his own party may get to him first.