An awkward live TV moment for White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller is under heavy scrutiny on social media.
On Monday afternoon, the Donald Trump aide went on CNN’s News Central to discuss the President’s deployment of National Guard troops to U.S. cities.
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CNN asked Miller whether the Trump Administration will abide by a district judge’s order blocking the Guard’s deployment in Oregon. “Well, the Administration filed an appeal this morning with the Ninth Circuit,” Miller began. “I would note the Administration won an identical case in the Ninth Circuit just a few months ago with respect to the federalizing of the California National Guard.”
Then, Miller said: “Under Title 10 of the U.S. Code, the President has plenary authority, has—” before making an abrupt stop. Miller blinked several times, with anchor Boris Sanchez calling out his name, though he still did not respond.
“Stephen, I apologize. It seems like we’re having a technical issue,” Sanchez said, before the show cut to a break, and resumed after with Sanchez saying some “wires got crossed.” The interview with Miller continued, but neither Sanchez nor Miller brought up “plenary authority” again. CNN did not immediately respond when asked by TIME for comment on what exactly the technical issue was.
The brief moment sparked controversy online over Miller’s use of the phrase “plenary authority,” which Cornell University’s Legal Information Institute defines as “power that is wide-ranging, broadly construed, and often limitless for all practical purposes.”
Some users speculated that there was no malfunction during the interview but rather that Miller abruptly caught himself and stopped talking. One TikTok user said, “Stephen Miller said the quiet part out loud accidentally and then appeared to glitch, all of a sudden when he recognized how much of his foot he just put into his mouth.” The user added: “He just came out and said Trump is authoritarian.” Another TikTok user posted a video with more than 100,000 likes: “Stephen Miller absolutely did not have a glitch on live TV. He had an ‘Oh sh-t’ moment where he said something that he f-cking was not supposed to say.”
On X, one user posted, “Stephen Miller didn’t glitch. He said ‘plenary authority’ and whoever was in his ear told him to STFU because he said too much and he froze like a deer in headlights.”
Upon return to air, Sanchez asked Miller about “the President’s legal authority as you see it under Title 10,” which refers to the part of the U.S. Code outlining laws that govern the Armed Forces, and “whether the Administration still plans to abide by that judge’s order, restricting any National Guard troops from being sent to Oregon.”
“Well, the Administration will abide by the ruling insofar as it affects the covered parties,” Miller said. “But there are also many other options the President has to deploy federal resources and assets under the U.S. military to Portland. But I was making the point that under federal law, Section— Title 10 of the U.S. Code, the President has the authority anytime he believes federal resources are insufficient to federalize the National Guard to carry out a mission necessary for public safety.”
A section of the law Miller mentioned states that the President may call into federal service members and a state’s National Guard under three conditions: if there is an invasion by a foreign nation, if there is a rebellion or a danger of one staged against the U.S. government, or if the President is “unable with the regular forces” to execute U.S. laws.
Trump has continued to test his executive authority in the deployment of troops within the U.S. and has been met with criticisms from local officials as well as pushback from court rulings, to which he has floated the possibility of using the 19th-century Insurrection Act to bypass.
