Two FBI Officials Removed After Dispute Over Calls to Trump Adviser’s Wife

Two senior FBI counterterrorism officials in Washington have been removed from their positions and reassigned following a dispute over the bureau’s handling of allegedly harassing phone calls received by Katie Miller, the wife of White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller.

The officials are Michael Burgwald, who headed counterterrorism operations at the FBI’s Washington Field Office, and his deputy, Courtland Rae. Their reassignment was first reported by Bloomberg Law and was subsequently reported by CNN.

According to people familiar with the matter, investigators at the Washington field office reviewed calls made by unidentified individuals to Katie Miller and concluded that the reported conduct did not meet the threshold for further FBI investigation. The review also reportedly found no connection to terrorism.

That conclusion was disputed by senior FBI leadership, according to the sources. The two officials were subsequently removed from their Washington Field Office positions and transferred to FBI headquarters.

Darren Cox, the senior executive overseeing the FBI’s Washington operations, confirmed that Burgwald and Rae had been removed from their posts. However, he rejected reports that FBI Director Kash Patel personally ordered the move, saying the decision was made at the Washington field-office level based on operational needs.

The White House offered a different account of the circumstances. Spokeswoman Lauren Bis told Bloomberg Law that the Miller family had never interacted with Burgwald or Rae and said FBI senior leadership believed the officials were preventing investigations into what it described as serious threats.

The reassignment has drawn attention because Burgwald and Rae are experienced national-security officials. Burgwald is a West Point graduate and has received recognition for his work on counterterrorism investigations, while Rae was involved in the FBI’s response to the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. Both have also worked on investigations connected to the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.

The dispute is also occurring against the backdrop of previous security concerns involving the Miller family. Stephen and Katie Miller moved from their Arlington, Virginia, home into military housing last year amid law-enforcement investigations into protest activity directed at the family.

In a separate but related episode, Virginia authorities decided in May not to bring state charges against activist Barbara Wien, who had protested outside Miller’s home and distributed flyers containing his address. The local prosecutor concluded that the evidence did not support criminal prosecution and said the conduct investigated was likely protected political speech. No federal charges had been filed against Wien in that matter as of the prosecutor’s decision.

The latest FBI personnel decision has therefore raised questions about how the bureau evaluates threats against senior government officials and their families, as well as how disagreements between field investigators and senior leadership are handled.

Neither Burgwald nor Rae has publicly commented on the reassignment, and the FBI has not publicly released a detailed account of the investigation into the calls.