Stephen Miller is a top Trump adviser. Katie Miller has a podcast. So who’s advertising on it?
With its interviews of Trump officials, celebrities, and health influencers, Miller launched her eponymous podcast last year, she said, to offer a platform for conservative and MAHA-inclined women. But in a Trump-driven Washington and changing media ecosystem, it’s also offered a prime venue for corporate and special interests looking to shape policy debates.
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It also raises questions about what ethical guardrails exist between the show, Katie Miller’s private business interests, and the administration, where she and her husband, the White House deputy chief of staff, have deep professional and social connections. Though ethics experts said there’s nothing novel about a D.C. power couple where one works in government and the other represents outside interests, it can appear unseemly to the public even if it doesn’t run afoul of explicit rules.
“It represents the evolution of lobbying and influence in the second Trump administration,” said Brendan Fischer, investigations lead at the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center. “Increasingly, the way to get things done is to try and capture the ear of the president and his closest advisers through paying influencers, through becoming a member of Mar-a-Lago, through funneling money to the president’s companies or political operation, or in this instance, through routing money or booking guests on the podcast of the wife of the president’s top adviser.”
Katie Miller did not respond to questions about her business. Abigail Jackson, a White House spokesperson, said in a statement that “Stephen Miller complies with all ethics rules in coordination with government ethics officials.”
Miller’s podcast so far has mixed a who’s-who of Trump administration names — her first guest was Vice President JD Vance — with an assortment of business executives, celebrities, and health influencers, from Nicki Minaj to the chief executive of Nasdaq. In each episode, Miller interviews guests about their careers, policies, and family life, with a heavy emphasis on healthy lifestyle themes.
When she launched the podcast in August, Miller told Axios she had investors backing the venture, but did not disclose them. However, the show has picked up advertisers. The American Beverage Association has sponsored the podcast three times. The Merchants Payments Coalition, an umbrella group for retailers that supports legislation to rein in fees on credit card charges, sponsored the show twice. And during episodes featuring FBI Director Kash Patel and his girlfriend and the one featuring Minaj, Miller worked references to the betting market website Polymarket, with a graphic encouraging viewers to visit Polymarket appearing at the bottom of the YouTube video feed. It was not disclosed whether Polymarket was paying for the mentions.
Many guests also come from organizations with interests before the administration. Shortly before the end of the government shutdown that scrambled air traffic, the chief executive of United Airlines joined Miller to promote how United handled flight delays. The episode aired after the shutdown ended. Former boxer Mike Tyson appeared on the show to plug his cannabis company, making a pitch alongside his business partner for either legalizing marijuana or lowering its federal classification as a drug.
Trump recently endorsed the bill pushed by the Merchant’s Payments Coalition against swipe fees. He ordered the reclassification of marijuana in December, over the concerns of some Republicans. Polymarket has made a big investment in Washington and counts Donald Trump Jr. among its investors, according to Politico.
The American Beverage Association has faced a tougher time as Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” has drawn a hard line on sweetened beverages. The administration has encouraged states to restrict sugary drinks from food stamps, with 18 so far moving to do so, and has discouraged Americans from consuming added sugars or artificial sweeteners. Miller has featured multiple guests who have questioned the safety of chemicals in processed foods and the effect of such foods on children’s health. But the beverage association has paid for Miller to read a plug for its website “Good to Know Facts” as a site to look up “over 140 common beverage ingredients” (the site returns assurances they’re approved for use in the US and Europe). After Miller concluded her script calling the site a “great resource,” Hines remarked, “I like it.”
Such targeted placements are an increasingly important part of the advocacy industry, whether coming from corporate interests or nonprofit groups, said Kevin Madden, a former senior adviser to Mitt Romney who now works for public affairs firm Penta Group.
“If there’s one part of the industry that is under assault, it’s the idea that access is gained by shoe-leather lobbyists who have a unique relationship with either a member of Congress or the administration,” Madden said. “The ability to connect with and then potentially mobilize or persuade 20 to 30,000 people or activists who are dedicated listeners of a political influencer or a political platform, that has a much quicker and noticeable impact on today’s public debates.”
The podcast does not appear to have a large audience; It has roughly 43,000 subscribers on YouTube and is not in the top 200 podcasts for Apple or top 100 podcasts on Spotify in the overall category or society and culture category.
Ethics experts said no rules bar Miller’s podcast, though it may look unseemly. Her husband would be required to recuse himself from any White House matters that directly impact her financial interest, they said.
“This is the Washington, D.C., power couple game, it’s been going on a long time,” said Richard Painter, a former ethics official in the George W. Bush White House who is now at the University of Minnesota Law School. “One of them is on the inside with all the power, and one of them is on the outside making all the money. … It reeks to high heaven. But this administration is going to do diddly to stop it.”
Her ties to the administration are evident through both her bookings and conversations. The chief executive of United Airlines referenced speaking to her husband earlier in the day. She openly teased Patel during the interview with his girlfriend, Alexis Wilkins, about when he would propose. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth joked about getting to spend time with the Millers as a perk of moving to a D.C. military base, where both families are currently living in secure housing. The closeness is not just through Stephen Miller; in addition to her work as a special government employee for Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency, Katie Miller was also on the transition team as a “sherpa” for Kennedy. In the first Trump administration, she worked in the press office of the Department of Homeland Security and later for Vice President Mike Pence.
Ethics rules do require senior officials to file financial disclosures regarding their spouse’s source of income, though not amounts. Stephen Miller’s filings report Katie Miller earned income last year through a company that lists Stephen Miller as president and Katie Miller as vice president. But it does not disclose how much Katie Miller earned or what her work was. Prior to the podcast she was a consultant to private clients, according to The Wall Street Journal, which reported Miller was advising corporations, including the food industry, on navigating the administration at the same time she was working within it. After Musk left government, Miller continued to work for him. Though she said she was leaving the full-time position to launch her podcast, her social media feed is full of posts touting Musk’s companies, and in one case referred to hubs for his artificial intelligence venture, xAI as “our data centers.”
“Certainly [the podcast] presents appearance issues,” said Fischer, of the Campaign Legal Center. “A reasonable observer could question whether Stephen Miller can be impartial in matters involving the corporate interests that are pouring money into his wife’s podcast venture.”
Tal Kopan can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her @talkopan.
