President Donald Trump floated his deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, as an option to be his next national security adviser after he ousted Mike Waltz from the role last week.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump revealed that Miller, a stalwart of his administration who has made frequent, sometimes fiery appearances before the media defending Trump’s deportation operations, is “at the top of the totem pole” for the high-profile post.
“I think he sort of indirectly already has that job. Because he has a lot to say about a lot of things. He’s a very valued person in the administration, Stephen,” the president said.
Trump also said he will fill the national security adviser role, which Secretary of State Marco Rubio is temporarily serving in, within six months.
That timeline means Rubio will likely be serving in four roles — specifically secretary of state, acting administrator of USAID, acting archivist of the United States, and now national security adviser — for a significant amount of time.
Democrats, including Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), targeted the administration on Sunday over the amount of work Rubio will now have, suggesting it’s not sustainable.
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“Especially since there’s such incompetence over at DOD, with Pete Hegseth being Secretary of Defense, and just the hollowing out of the top leadership, there’s no way he [Rubio] can carry all that entire load on his own,” Duckworth said.
Trump’s most recent comments on possible selections for the national security adviser role follow his move to nominate Waltz to U.N. ambassador late last week. This marked the end of a tumultuous few months for Waltz in the national security role that was dominated by Signalgate.