Top Trump aide Stephen Miller tests positive for Covid

Stephen Miller, a top aide to President Donald Trump, said on Tuesday he had tested positive for Covid-19.

Miller, a senior adviser to the president with a wide-ranging portfolio in the White House, joins Trump’s wife, press secretary, campaign manager, party chair, counselor and numerous other staffers who have tested positive for coronavirus. Trump himself spent his first full day at the White House on Tuesday after a three-day stay at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center while being treated for the disease.

Miller is married to Katie Miller, the communications director for Vice President Mike Pence. Katie Miller was one of the earliest Trump aides to get coronavirus, back in May; the couple are expecting their first child.

“Over the last 5 days I have been working remotely and self-isolating, testing negative every day through yesterday,” Miller said in a statement. “Today, I tested positive for COVID-19 and am in quarantine.”

Miller, who worked as the communications director for then-Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ark.) before joining the 2016 Trump campaign, is the president’s most strident voice in the White House on restricting immigration, his main policy concern. But Miller has forged close working relationships with West Wing colleagues, especially Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser.

The West Wing, especially the press office, has become a coronavirus hot spot in recent days, with counselor Hope Hicks, press secretary Kayleigh McEnany and four of McEnany’s aides testing positive in the last week. At least 34 people connected to Trump have tested positive for coronavirus in recent days.

Miller and others in the White House were very surprised about his positive diagnosis on Tuesday. He had taken care of his wife during her entire three-week quarantine since she had a fairly serious case, according to a person familiar with the matter, who added that Miller and others assumed that he already had gotten the virus then.