State Department official testifies how Stephen Miller was involved in discussions over student visas and antisemitism

Source: CNN Politics

Published 3:48 PM EDT, Fri July 18, 2025


CNN — The State Department had more than a dozen meetings with the White House – including Stephen Miller, President Donald Trump’s White House deputy chief of staff – and other agencies to discuss the topic of student visas, a top department official said in federal court on Friday. The White House did not comment on the meetings.

John Armstrong, the senior bureau official in the Bureau of Consular Affairs, described to a judge how the State Department used broad definitions of antisemitism when scrutinizing the speech and activities of non-citizen students and professors the department chose to attempt to remove from the US.

Armstrong appeared toward the end of a two-week trial in which a group of university professors who say the administration’s efforts to deport individuals over their anti-Israel views is intended to limit protected political speech.

During his testimony, Armstrong discussed action memos to revoke visas for several students and professors as part of the US’s effort to combat antisemitism, whose definition could include comments against the Israeli government, support of an arms embargo in the war in Gaza or calling for the US to stop military aid to Israel. “This is not a mundane thing,” Armstrong said. “If we get this stuff wrong, we get 9/11. This is very serious stuff.”


Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/18/politics/state-department-stephen-miller-antisemitism