Advertisement

Stephen Miller: Anger at New York Times over wedding post for hardline adviser accused of being a white supremacist

Stephen Miller and Katie Waldman at the White House for a state dinner with Australian prime minister Scott Morrison in September 2019: AP
Stephen Miller and Katie Waldman at the White House for a state dinner with Australian prime minister Scott Morrison in September 2019: AP

The New York Times has defended its wedding announcement for Donald Trump's senior adviser Stephen Miller after the newspaper faced a backlash from readers.

Mr Miller married Vice President Mike Pence's press secretary, Katie Waldman, on Sunday evening at the president's Trump International Hotel in Washington DC. The president attended the wedding and even gave a speech joking about Mr Miller's decision to get married over President's Day weekend, according to a Real Clear Politics reporter.

Details about the senior adviser's nuptials were then published in the New York Times, a move that angered some readers.

One of the frustrations expressed was the announcement not mentioning Mr Miller's alleged ties with white nationalism.

"Does the NYT not talk about Stephen Miller being a white supremacist because it would be gauche?" Democratic strategist Adam Parkhomenko tweeted after the announcement was published.

Other readers accused the newspaper of "fascism" for its decision to publish the announcement and "ignore" Mr Miller's controversial policies within the Trump administration.

“The New York Times just ran an announcement of Miller’s wedding as though he’s an esteemed statesman," politician Saira Rao wrote. "This is how mainstream media supports fascism.”

Stephen Miller and Katie Waldman at the White House for a state dinner with Australian prime minister Scott Morrison in September 2019 (AP)
Stephen Miller and Katie Waldman at the White House for a state dinner with Australian prime minister Scott Morrison in September 2019 (AP)

A spokesperson for the paper said in a statement, "We publish wedding announcements from a broad range of people, showing the breadth and diversity of America and also registering unions of note, which we think will be of interest to readers."

Included with the statement were links to past wedding announcements to show the range of people covered by the department.

In the New York Times' announcement, Mr Miller was referred to as Mr Trump's senior adviser who also has influence over immigration, "directly shaping policies that aim to restrict the number of immigrants coming to the country", the newspaper wrote.

The line in the article included a hyperlink to a previous article mentioning released emails that showed Mr Miller citing white nationalist websites when working as a young Senate aide.

Another hyperlink included in the announcement directed readers to a New York Times article about emails with website links demonstrating Mr Miller's anti-immigration views.

Huffington Post reporter Elise Foley noticed the links shared by the paper in the announcement. She tweeted: "Gotta be awkward when your wedding announcement has to link to stories about white nationalism.”

Publications such as the New York Post and the Associated Press also covered Mr Miller's wedding, with both mentioning his controversial history working for the White House.

The Associated Press called Mr Miller "combative" and "one of the White House's most conservative and influential voices in pushing moves that Trump has taken to curb immigration". The New York Post listed the different immigration policies Mr Miller helped spearhead, including family separations at the border and reportedly pushing to end birthright citizenship.

Read more

Stacey Abrams puts herself forward for vice presidency

Tennessee flooding: 'Unprecedented' floods make homes slide into river

Trump's new travel ban relies on agencies he has attacked