Stephen Miller is one of the top officials tasked with recommending policy to President Donald Trump, but he may have trouble sharing insight from a meeting held Monday on how to prevent school shootings — because he apparently fell asleep during it.
Photographs from the event show Miller dozing off during the meeting with the nation’s governors, The Week reported. The series of photos showed Miller failing to stifle a big yawn and later placing his head in his hands. In another shot, Miller’s head is slumped forward and his eyes closed.
The pictures of Stephen Miller falling asleep during the meeting on school shootings were shared by the European PressPhoto Agency , which included a caption that read: “Miller nods off during Trump speech [sic] about gun violence at high schools with nation’s governors.”
The photos have added fuel to the criticism that Donald Trump’s administration is insensitive in its response to the shooting, which left 17 people dead. Trump himself was criticized for treating a meeting with first responders to the school shooting like a campaign event, with the president posting a series of photos where he has a wide grin and a thumbs-up.
Trump was later criticized for using a picture taken during a hospital room visit with a school shooting victim as part of a letter asking for campaign donations. As CNN noted, the picture showed Trump making a visit to student Madeleine Wilford and her family, and was included in a letter to followers that noted Trump’s efforts to ban bump stocks and strengthen background checks for gun purchases, then gave a link to the donation page for this 2020 presidential campaign.
Photographer appears to catch Stephen Miller sleeping during White House meeting on school safety https://t.co/Ot44kosqnK pic.twitter.com/koxPkPyT3f
— The Hill (@thehill) February 26, 2018
Other school shooting victims have said that Trump was less than sympathetic in his interactions with them. Samantha Fuentes, who was shot in the February 14 attack, told CNN that she did not feel “consoled or helped” after speaking with Trump on the phone after the incident.
Stephen Miller has also come under fire during his time in the White House, even before reportedly falling asleep during the meeting on preventing school shootings. He has been accused by the Southern Poverty Law Cente r of catering to white nationalist viewpoints and taking a hardline stance on immigration.
