July 27, 2020
The Trump Administration on July 23 discredited news that White House Senior Adviser Stephen Miller’s 97-year-old grandmother had died of the coronavirus—the strong disclaimer coming after his uncle reported her passing due to COVID-19 on July 4.
Mother Jones first reported on Thursday that Miller’s uncle David Glosser was “angry and outraged” at President Donald Trump’s “lack of response” to the crisis, which has left more than 140,000 people dead in the United States and has infected more than 4 million.
“This morning my mother, Ruth Glosser, died of the late effects of COVID-19 like so many thousands of other people; both young and old,” Glosser wrote on Facebook on July 4. “She survived the acute infection but was left with lung and neurological damage that destroyed her will to eat and her ability to breathe well enough to sustain arousal and consciousness.”
“This is categorically false and a disgusting use of so-called journalism when the family deserves privacy to mourn the loss of a loved one,” the White House told the magazine.
“She had a mile [sic] case of COVID-19 in March,” a spokesperson responded. “She was never hospitalized and made a full and quick recovery.”
Research contact: @MotherJones