Unpacking rumor that Stephen Miller's wife, Katie, left him for Elon Musk

Yahoo

2 days ago

In late May and early June 2025, rumors swirled that the wife of White House adviser Stephen Miller, Katie Miller, had left him for tech magnate Elon Musk, who until then had served as the new U.S. Department of Government Efficiency's public face. Some internet users even suggested that the affair had started with Stephen Miller's consent in an arrangement some described as a "throuple."
For example, user @gwensnyder.bsky.social‬ on Bluesky relayed these claims:
(Bluesky user @gwensnyder.bsky.social‬)
The post read:
Oh I am not sh**posting, folks. Stephen Miller, his wife, and Elon are widely rumored to be a throuple. Now Miller's wife is leaving the Trump team to be with Musk & LITERALLY PER THE NEW YORK TIMES Stephen is angrily subtweeting Musk. They actually put it in the paper of record that he was mad
The post on Bluesky had received 7,600 likes and 3,200 reshares as of this writing. The same rumor appeared several times on Bluesky, but also on X, where the official account of the Democratic National Committee tagged Miller in its post of a single empty chair in a supposed hotel room in reaction to rumors that Miller's wife had left government to work for Musk in the private sector (archived):
The empty chair represented a meme known as the "cuck chair," a chair on which someone supposedly sits while they watch their spouse have sex with someone else. This post had amassed 2.1 million views and 32,000 likes as of this writing, further spreading the unsubstantiated claim that Miller had cheated on her husband with Musk.
Snopes has reached out to the Miller couple and Musk, seeking details. However, because we were not able to confirm or disprove the story, we have left it unrated.
The rumor started as Musk, CEO of Tesla and owner of SpaceX, announced his departure from DOGE.
Bluesky user Snyder (to whom we have reached out for comment and await a reply) referenced a New York Times story published on May 28, 2025, which indeed referenced Miller criticizing Musk on X without naming him. Miller posted on X (archived) in response to Musk lambasting the "One Big Beautiful" budget bill the U.S. House of Representatives had voted on, which experts, including analysts at the Tax Foundation, said would cause the budget deficit to balloon. The article read:
However, Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff for policy, shot back at Mr. Musk on social media without naming him. Mr. Miller asserted that the bill would reduce the deficit — despite multiple independent analyses saying otherwise — and noted that the cuts made by Mr. Musk's team were unrelated to the spending bill.
Lower down in the thread on Bluesky, Snyder linked to a story published on Feb. 27, 2025, in Wired, which Snyder said "strongly implied throupledom." The story explained that while Stephen Miller had assumed the position of White House deputy chief of staff for policy and homeland security adviser, his wife had been appointed as "top communications official at DOGE," directly with Musk. Citing an anonymous Republican source, the story went on to suggest that this had been by design:
The Millers are seen inside Trumpworld as glorified babysitters for Musk, tasked with ensuring he stays within bounds, insofar as that's possible. "He gets a lot of grace," the first Republican said of Musk. "Many people aren't nervous, because Stephen Miller is deeply involved. And Katie." This Republican compared Musk to a preteen child.
However, the Wired story implied more salacious suspicions about the relationship between the Millers and Musk without making them explicit:
Musk's relationship with the Millers has become a subject of great intrigue in Washington as DOGE continues to wreak havoc on the federal government. Little is known about how often they interact outside of work and how the relationship grew over the late stages of the campaign into the transition.
"If you can find out anything about Stephen Miller's social life, I don't wanna know the answer," says a longtime Republican operative who knows the couple personally.
Given the anonymous sourcing, Snopes was unable to independently verify Wired's reporting. We have reached out to Snyder on Bluesky asking if the user heard the rumor independently.
However, on May 28, 2025, a CNN report that Katie Miller had left DOGE to work for Musk full time gave new life to claims that the relationship between Musk and the pair was more complicated than it seemed. Citing three unnamed sources, CNN said Miller was now helping arrange interviews for Musk. Snopes was unable to independently verify CNN's reporting because it was based on anonymous sources.
Though several internet users took it to mean that she had left her husband, with whom she shares three children, the reality is that Katie Miller had the status of "special government employee," which precluded her working more than 130 days per year for the U.S. government. As such, she would have had to leave government work regardless of which job she took on after her stint at DOGE.
While she did not confirm the story, she had reshared on X one post by Musk regarding his departure from the government, as well as a screen capture of one of his quotes about DOGE, suggesting she may indeed be working as his spokeswoman.
Two days later, on May 30, 2025, Musk stood in the White House Oval Office, speaking to the press alongside U.S. President Donald Trump about his return to the private sector. Musk appeared with a bruise around his right eye. While Musk said he owed his black eye to his son, whom he said he had instructed to punch him, the internet once again lit up with speculation (archived):
The post had gained 2.7 million views and 41,000 likes as of this writing.
Snopes reached out to the Millers as well as Musk asking them to provide further details. We will update this report should they respond.
"'Big Beautiful Bill' House GOP Tax Plan: Preliminary Details and Analysis." Tax Foundation, 13 May 2025, taxfoundation.org/research/all/federal/big-beautiful-bill-house-gop-tax-plan/. Accessed 2 June 2025.
"Elon Musk Bids Farewell to White House but Says Doge Will Continue." BBC, 29 May 2025, www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz9y4exj822o. Accessed 2 June 2025.
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Lahut, Jake. "Elon Musk's Takeover Is Being Aided by a Trumpworld Power Couple." WIRED, 27 Feb. 2025, www.wired.com/story/katie-stephen-miller-elon-musk-takeover/. Accessed 2 June 2025.
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Siddiqui, Faiz, and Frances Vinall. "Musk Explains His Black Eye, Says He Told Son X to Punch Him." The Washington Post, 31 May 2025, www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/05/31/elon-musk-black-eye-trump/. Accessed 2 June 2025.
"Summary of Government Ethics Rules for Special Government Employees." Justice.gov, 27 Aug. 2014, www.justice.gov/jmd/ethics/summary-government-ethics-rules-special-government-employees. Accessed 2 June 2025.