White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller expressed confidence in President Donald Trump’s ability to nominate a permanent director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention despite the politics involved in nominating someone who shares Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy’s positions regarding vaccines and who can be confirmed by the Senate.
“We’ll find an incredible nominee. I’m not worried about that at all,” Miller told the Washington Examiner Friday at the White House.
Miller used the opportunity to criticize the CDC; its former director, Susan Monarez, was fired this week after reportedly refusing to implement directives from Kennedy concerning vaccine policy and for seeking help from Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA). Cassidy, a doctor, has been anxious about Kennedy’s anti-vaccine positions.
“The CDC’s credibility was shattered during the COVID era,” Miller said. “Secretary Kennedy, one of the world’s foremost voices, advocates, and experts on public health, is working hard to restore the credibility and the integrity of CDC as a scientific organization committed to the scientific method and getting to the root cause of the public health epidemic in this country.”
Miller previewed potential law enforcement actions, particularly regarding immigration, in Chicago and Boston as Naval Station Great Lakes, north of Chicago, prepares to be turned into an operations center after Labor Day.
“It’s important to understand that immigration enforcement happens 24/7 in all communities in America,” he said. “It’s also true that the highest degree of national security and public safety concerns are in sanctuary cities, so, without getting into specifics and revealing any operational details, the president has been clear repeatedly that we’re going to be prioritizing enforcement in these sanctuary jurisdictions as a matter of public safety and national security.”
Miller went on to comment on the decision by the Trump administration on Friday to deny visas to the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority before next month’s United Nations General Assembly.
“We’ve been very clear when it comes to our visa system that we are going to take all necessary steps to prevent our visa system from being used by individuals who may support or espouse terrorism or terrorist activity,” he said.
In addition, Miller commented on proposed reforms to student and foreign journalist visas, as published this week in the Federal Register, the journal of government agency rules and public notices.
“It’s just a programmatic integrity measure to make sure that while you’re in that status, you should be, in fact, at a school, learning,” he said. “We found a lot of cases where someone applied for a student visa, they got it, and then 11 years later, they’re still in that same status. At that point in time, obviously, your education should be over. So we’re going to cut down on fraud.”
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In the wide-ranging press conference, Miller was also asked about Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook, whom Trump is trying to fire over allegations of mortgage fraud.
“I don’t have anything on that except to say that the president’s authority, as the head of the executive branch, is to determine executive branch employees,” he said.
