Getty Katie Waldman with her husband, Stephen Miller.
Katie Waldman is an aide to Vice President Mike Pence and the wife of Stephen Miller, a top aide to President Trump. Waldman and her family are from Florida, where her parents, Glenn Waldman and Sheryl Bekoff Waldman, still live. She has two siblings, a brother and sister.
Waldman, 28, and Miller, 34, were married in front of their families and fellow members of the Trump administration, including the president himself, at the Trump International Hotel in Washington D.C. on Sunday, February 17, 2020. The couple began dating in 2018 and were engaged a year later.
Miller, a senior advisor for policy for Trump who often serves as his speechwriter, has been one of the more controversial members of the president’s administration. Miller has been an anti-immigration force, pushing the “Muslim ban” and the zero-tolerance family separation policy. The Southern Poverty Law Center found Miller promoted white nationalist views in emails with the far-right website Breitbart News during the 2016 campaign. He previously worked as a top aide to former Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions.
Waldman, who is Pence’s press secretary, previously worked for Arizona Senator Martha McSally and Montana Senator Steve Daines, and as a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security. While at DHS, Waldman defended the family separation policy and made anti-immigrant statements.
Here’s what you need to know about Katie Waldman’s parents and family:
1. Katie Waldman Grew Up in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Where Her Father Is a Prominent Attorney
Katie Waldman’s parents, Glenn and Sheryl Waldman.
Katie Waldman is originally from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, according to social media and her wedding announcement in The New York Times. She is the daughter of Glenn Waldman and Sheryl Waldman, according to The Times announcement.
Waldman’s father is a partner in a prominent Fort Lauderdale law firm. He co-founded Waldman Trigoboff Hildebrandt & Calnan, P.A. in July 1991, according to the firm’s website. He graduated from the University of Florida in 1980 and the University of Florida’s law school in 1983.
Waldman’s firm focuses on complex commercial litigation and he is also a frequent contributor to the Florida Law Journal and is a lecturer on legal topics, according to his firm’s website.
2. Waldman & Miller Both Come From Jewish Families & Backgrounds & Were Married by a Rabbi Who Serves as an Adviser to the U.S. Ambassador to Israel
Katie Waldman and Stephen Miller.
Both Katie Waldman and Stephen Miller come from Jewish families. They were married by a prominent rabbi at their wedding ceremony on February 16, according to The New York Times.
“Rabbi Aryeh Lightstone, who is a senior adviser to David Friedman, the United States ambassador to Israel, officiated,” the newspaper wrote.
The Jerusalem Post wrote about Katie Waldman’s family background, along with Miller’s, saying she and Miller both come from families who immigrated to the United States. At least parts of Miller’s family came to the U.S. to escape Jewish persecution.
3. Waldman Has an Older Brother & a Younger Sister & All 3 Siblings Graduated From the University of Florida
LinkedIn/Katie WaldmanKatie Waldman pictured on her LinkedIn page.
Katie Waldman has two siblings, an older brother and a younger sister, according to social media profiles. She comes from a family that has close ties to the University of Florida. She graduated from the Gainesville university with a degree in agricultural economics.
Waldman’s brother and sister also both graduated from the state’s flagship university. Her older brother works in TV production and her sister is beginning a career in a mental health field.
Waldman’s siblings are not named in her wedding announcement in the New York Times. They have not commented about her role in the Trump administration or the political beliefs of her and her new husabnd.
4. Waldman’s Parents Have Both Made Significant Political Contributions to Republican Candidates & Causes, but They Haven’t Given Money to Trump
Katie Waldman and her mother.
Katie Waldman’s parents have both made significant political contributions to GOP candidates and Republican causes in Florida over the past several years, according to federal public records. Her parents could not be reached for comment by Heavy.
According to the Federal Election Commission website, Glenn Waldman’s last political contribution was in 2018, to Rick Scott for Florida. He gave $500 to the outgoing Florida governor in his successful bid to become a U.S. senator. In 2016, Glenn Waldman gave $1,000 to Senator Steve Daines. His daughter worked for Daines.
In 2015, Glenn Waldman gave $2,700 to Jeb 2016 Inc., Jeb Bush’s presidential campaign. He also gave $1,000 to Paul Cook for Congress in 2014, and $500 to Friends of George Lemieux in 2012. In 2010, he gave $2,500 to Protect America’s Future PAC. He also gave money to Charlie Crist and the Bush-Cheney campaign. Sheryl Waldman has given money to Charlie Crist and George Lemieux.
Neither Glenn Waldman nor Sheryl Waldman have made any campaign contributions to President Donald Trump or any PACs that have provided money to his campaigns. They have not made any contributions during the 2020 election cycle, according to FEC records.
5. Katie Waldman Joins the Miller Family, Which Has Members That Have Called Out Her New Husband in the Past for His Views
Spectacular and very special wedding tonight with new bride and groom Stephen and Katie Miller! So much fun and still going with @realDonaldTrump having fun and the band is going strong!
Katie Waldman joins a family whose internal issues have made headlines in the past as some of Stephen Miller’s relatives have publicly called him out for his views. Miller’s uncle, retired neuropsychologist Dr. David Glosser, wrote an essay in 2018 calling his nephew an “immigration hypocrite.”
Glosser wrote for Politico, “I have watched with dismay and increasing horror as my nephew, an educated man who is well aware of his heritage, has become the architect of immigration policies that repudiate the very foundation of our family’s life in this country.” He wrote about an ancestor, Wolf-Leib Glosser, who fled to America to escape anti-Jewish porgroms and violence.
“I shudder at the thought of what would have become of the Glossers had the same policies Stephen so coolly espouses— the travel ban, the radical decrease in refugees, the separation of children from their parents, and even talk of limiting citizenship for legal immigrants — been in effect when Wolf-Leib made his desperate bid for freedom,” Glosser wrote.
Glosser told CNN, “I have a huge family. I wouldn’t offer to speak for my entire family, but dozens of family members encouraged me to push forward with this.”
Miller’s parents, Miriam Miller, Glosser’s sister, and Michael Miller, are life-long Democrats, according to the Los Angeles Times. According to Buzzfeed News, many members of Miller’s family are Democrats and have publicly posted about their family member on Facebook, grappling with his role in the Trump administration.
In December 2019, a Florida teen, Georgia Bernbaum, learned through a school project that she was related to Miller through the Glosser family and immediately wrote a scathing op-ed in the Orlando Sentinel about her distant relative.
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