FBI officials Michael Burgwald and Courtland Rae were removed from leadership posts and reassigned to headquarters Friday after investigators reportedly found allegedly threatening calls to Katie Miller did not warrant an FBI probe and had no terrorism link, CNN reported.
White House spokesperson Lauren Bis said senior FBI leaders determined Burgwald and Rae were stifling investigations into “very serious threats” and said the Millers had never met or interacted with them. Washington Field Office chief Darren Cox said he alone made the personnel decision; the FBI and White House pushed back on suggestions the Millers or FBI Director Kash Patel ordered it.
Bloomberg Law reported that Washington Field Office leaders and the Miller family were dissatisfied with the probe's pace, and that Patel was also displeased. Details of the calls have not been made public, leaving unclear what investigators reviewed. Katie Miller is a conservative podcaster married to Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller; the family moved to military housing last year amid what the White House described as stalking, doxing and threats. The reassignments remove decades of counterterrorism experience from the Washington office.
