Heated Stephen Miller doesn’t let CNN host get word in as Trump aide rails on tariffs, migrants: ‘This is my show’

Trump White House adviser Stephen Miller repeatedly butted heads with CNN anchor Pamela Brown during a wide-ranging and often heated interview on Friday that touched on several topics that included the president’s tariffs, the recent Supreme Court decision on temporary immigration protection status and Elon Musk’s reported drug use.

Browbeating and insulting Brown throughout the lengthy and tense discussion, the Situation Room host finally shot back after the White House deputy chief of staff refused to let her get a word in edgewise or allow her to conduct the interview.

“Stephen, this is my show,” Brown scolded her guest at one point as he continued to performatively shout. “I want to hear what you have to say. I’ve been respectful and given you the opportunity. But I also need to jump in because time is of the essence.”

Amid a spate of bombshell headlines surrounding the Trump administration over the past 48 hours, Miller was first asked about Donald Trump’s claim on Friday that China “totally violated” the interim deal that resulted in both countries dialing back their retaliatory and punitive tariffs.

“President Trump alone has had the courage to stand up and say that we are not going to allow China to economically dominate the United States,” Miller dramatically declared. “We are not going to allow China to take from us the materials, the manufacturing capacity, the industrial capacity that we need to protect America and to keep America safe.”

Brown, meanwhile, wondered what the White House would specifically do to China now that it says it’s violating the agreement with the United States, and whether that included raising the tariffs back up to 145 percent.

Miller suggested that the State Department’s plan to “aggressively revoke” student visas of those with “connections to the Chinese Communist Party” was how the administration was retaliating against China. At the same time, he wouldn’t divulge whether Trump would increase tariffs against the American adversary.

“Well, I‘m not going to detail for you right now on the entire hand that the president is willing to play,” he shot back. “I would just put it this way. There are measures that have already been taken.”

After Miller railed against the Chinese for a couple of more minutes, Brown finally stepped in so she could ask him about the Supreme Court ruling that the administration could revoke humanitarian protections for hundreds of thousands of migrants.

“We have other topics, but I wanted to make sure you said what you wanted to say. And I hope that you got your response out there on China,” she noted. “I want to go to what is a big win today for the administration from the Supreme Court.

Still, Miller took offense a moment later when Brown pointed out that while the White House is extremely happy with this ruling, it was just a day ago that members of the administration were complaining about “rogue” judges over court decisions they dislike. Especially when she wondered if it was the administration’s position that courts should just act as a “rubber stamp” for the president.

“Let me finish, let me finish, I will answer the question happily,” Miller fumed over the “implication” of Brown’s question. “But look, when you have these kinds of lazy assumptions built into questions, it makes it hard to have a constructive dialogue.”

The heated back-and-forth, which Brown has had to contend with recently from other Trump allies, continued over the next 10 minutes, eventually resulting in the veteran CNN host informing Miller that she was in charge of the interview.

“This is my show,” she exhaustedly pointed out, wanting to dive into the recent controversy over an undocumented migrant potentially being set up over a threat to the president. In the end, though, that exchange also fell apart as Brown suggested Miller was speaking to her disrespectfully.

“Stephen, I want this to be – and call me naive – a good faith discussion about what‘s happening right now,” she said.

“Now, when we use language that‘s designed to obscure the truth, that‘s not good faith,” he sneered, insisting that she use the term “illegal alien” rather than “undocumented migrant.”

As for the recent reports that departing “first buddy Elon Musk – whose last day as a special government employee is Friday – was using drugs “intensely” and regularly while working with DOGE, Miller – whose wife is leaving the administration to work for Musk full-time – said he had no concerns.

“All I can say is that DOGE has done an extraordinary job rooting out systemic waste, graft, grift and corruption from the federal government, and you're going to hear from the president today his thanks to Elon Musk for leading that effort to save taxpayers billions of dollars,” he told Brown.