GOP senator urges Trump to dump Noem and Miller or risk midterm 'wave against' Republicans
As the Trump administration continues to face backlash over its immigration enforcement operations in the wake of the killing of Alex Pretti, one Senate Republican revealed late Thursday he’s been urging President Trump to dump Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and advisor Stephen Miller, or risk a “wave against Republicans” in the midterms.
“I’ve continued to tell the president you’ve got to get the amateurs out of the Oval Office for his own sake, for his legacy, but for the sake of Republicans,” said Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) on “The Conversation," Politico’s weekly podcast.
“These people are adding up to what will most likely be a wave against Republicans in next year’s election because they’re so lousy on execution. Now there are many people in the administration I have the utmost confidence in. These two people happen not to be on that list.”
Both Noem and Miller - the face and the architect behind the Trump administration’s mass deportation policy, respectively – have been under renewed scrutiny since Pretti’s killing, which itself came amid the increasingly chaotic immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Pretti was labeled a “domestic terrorist” by Noem, who also falsely claimed that he had intended to “massacre” law enforcement before he was killed, a phrase she was reportedly instructed to use by Miller.
As the fallout from Pretti’s killing continued to grow, Noem was sidelined after President Donald Trump dispatched his border czar, Tom Homan, to Minnesota to lead the ongoing immigration operation. Miller was sidelined as well after being left out of an emergency meeting on the future of DHS.
Tillis has been among the few Republican lawmakers to openly defy Trump, having first opposed him over the One Big Beautiful Bill Act last year. He’s since announced his retirement, but has remained critical of the Trump administration on everything from his efforts to control the Federal Reserve to its mishandling of disaster recovery aid.