UPDATE (5/10/2020 @ 7:54 p.m. ET): Vice President Mike Pence is not in quarantine after Katie Miller tested positive for COVID-19, the White House said in an emailed statement to HollywoodLife on Sunday, May 10. “Vice President Pence will continue to follow the advice of the White House Medical Unit and is not in quarantine,” the brief statement from Pence’s spokesperson Devin O’Malley read. “Additionally, Vice President Pence has tested negative every single day and plans to be at the White House tomorrow,” the statement also confirmed.
Vice President Mike Pence‘s Press Secretary, Katie Miller, has confirmed that she is the staffer who tested positive for coronavirus on May 8. Miller, 28, who is married to White House senior advisor Stephen Miller, stated to NBC News that she is asymptomatic at this time. HollywoodLife has reached out to the White House for a statement. The news of an unnamed staffer’s diagnosis broke earlier in the day, when Air Force Two was delayed at Joint Base Andrews while en route to Iowa. Some of Pence’s staffers were seen exiting the plane before it took off; it’s unclear if Miller was on the flight. Miller’s diagnosis comes the day after President Donald Trump‘s personal valet tested positive for COVID-19, as well. There’s no word yet if Pence, 60, as also been tested; Trump said he tested negative twice since the valet’s diagnosis. Here’s what you need to know about Miller and the developing situation:
1. She’s worked for Pence since October 2019. Miller is fairly new to the role. Pence tapped her to replace his first press secretary Alyssa Farah, who left to work for the Pentagon. At the time, Pence’s chief of staff Marc Short told NBC News that Miller had “extensive experience and she’ll be a great fit in our office. She’s shown she has the mettle to handle intense environments.” Miller was then working as a communications director for Senator Martha McSally (R-AZ), who called the move “a once in a lifetime opportunity” for Miller.
2. She is married to White House senior advisor Stephen Miller. The Millers married in February 2020 at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC. The ceremony was officiated by Rabbi Aryeh Lightstone, who is a senior adviser to David Friedman, the United States ambassador to Israel. While both working for the government, the couple spoke over the phone frequently, but didn’t meet in person until spring 2018. They were engaged about a year and a half later, according to The New York Times. The wedding was attended by President Trump and Vice President Pence.
3. She’s also the press spokesperson for the White House coronavirus task force. Pence is the head of the task force, and Miller sat in on all of President Trump’s daily televised briefings, sometimes next to his lectern. Despite this, Trump said that Miller hadn’t come in contact with him.
4. Trump initially broke the news of her diagnosis. Trump initially announced that “Katie,” a “press person” was diagnosed with COVID-19 during a meeting with White House reporters. “She’s a wonderful young woman, Katie, she tested very good for a long period of time, then all of a sudden today she tested positive,” Trump said. “She hasn’t come into contact with me. She’s spent some time with the vice president. He went on to again bash COVID-19 testing procedures, as he did when his valet was diagnosed on May 7.
“So she tested positive out of the blue,” Trump said. “This is why the whole concept of tests aren’t necessarily great. The tests are perfect but something could happen between a test where it’s good and then something happens and all of a sudden. She was tested very recently and tested negative and then today I guess for some reason, she tested positive. Mike [Pence] knows about it and Mike has done what he has to do.”
5. She’s had a number of other roles in the US government. Prior to working as Pence’s spokesperson, Miller was a press assistant for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, and a press secretary for Senator Steve Daines. She served as a spokeswoman for Senator McSally before joining the staff of the United States Department of Homeland Security, under former Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen.