Stephen Miller Wrote Trump’s First Letter About Firing Comey

Image by Getty Images
When James Comey was ousted as FBI director in May, many blamed Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general who wrote a memo faulting Comey’s leadership at the police agency. But it turns out, Stephen Miller might have been the one Trump wanted to articulate the reasons for the sacking.
Miller and President Trump worked to draft an initial letter that month detailing the administration’s reasons for firing Comey, all occurring before Rosenstein wrote his memo, which was used as a justification for the firing, the New York Times reported on Friday.
According to The Times, the administration’s letter was quashed by White House counsel Donald McGahn, who was worried about unspecified legal trouble that some its contents might bring. The full text of the letter is apparently in the possession of special prosecutor Robert Mueller’s office.
The White House declined to comment to The Times. “To the extent the special prosecutor is interested in these matters, we will be fully transparent with him,” Ty Cobb, an administration spokesman, said.
Contact Daniel J. Solomon at [email protected] or on Twitter @DanielJSolomon
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a Passover gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion My Jewish moms group ousted me because I work for J Street. Is this what communal life has come to?
- 2
Fast Forward Suspected arsonist intended to beat Gov. Josh Shapiro with a sledgehammer, investigators say
- 3
News Student protesters being deported are not ‘martyrs and heroes,’ says former antisemitism envoy
- 4
Politics Meet America’s potential first Jewish second family: Josh Shapiro, Lori, and their 4 kids
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Jewish family killed in New York plane crash
-
Fast Forward Israelis can no longer enter the Maldives after Palestinian-solidarity ban goes into effect
-
News Harvard is defying the Trump administration — after its own crackdown on academic freedom
-
Opinion The Passover attack on Josh Shapiro was terrifying. But don’t assume it was antisemitic
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.