(The Center Square) – A congressional oversight panel is asking Arlington County Commonwealth’s Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti to turn over internal records related to two September incidents involving White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller and his family.
The request comes as the committee reviews what it describes as “politically motivated prosecutorial actions” by state and local prosecutors.
In a letter dated Nov. 13, House Judiciary Committee Chair Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, wrote that the committee has been conducting that review during the 118th Congress. The letter then turns to an Arlington case involving Miller and outlines the handling of a flyer-posting incident on Sept. 11 and a chalk protest that took place several days later.
According to the letter, a Virginia resident, Barbara Wien, was allegedly seen on Sept. 11 posting flyers in the Millers’ Arlington neighborhood. The flyers displayed Stephen Miller’s face and listed the family’s home address. The committee claims that Wien walked past Katie Miller, who was sitting outside at the time.
The letter says the FBI viewed the flyers as a possible doxxing attempt and sought a warrant to search Wien’s phone. A federal magistrate judge denied the request. The judge later denied a second attempt after investigators concluded Wien misled them during an Oct. 1 interview, according to the committee. The letter says Virginia State Police later secured a narrower warrant from a state court.
The committee also pointed to an Oct. 2 hearing where Dehghani-Tafti’s office asked a local judge to limit what information state police could share with the FBI, the letter says. Investigators described that request as ‘stymying the investigation’ into threats made against the Miller family, according to the letter.
The letter also mentions a separate incident involving chalk messages written outside the Miller home. On Sept. 14, Katie Miller posted video showing chalk slogans on the sidewalk. Around the same time, an activist group called Arlington Neighbors United for Humanity posted on social media that its members had chalked messages in the neighborhood.
The committee described Wien as a member of that group and noted that the flyers posted on Sept. 11 included a QR code linking to the group’s Instagram page.
Lawmakers said they are requesting communications referring to Stephen Miller, Katie Miller, Wien and Arlington Neighbors United for Humanity. They are also seeking communications between the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office and the City of Falls Church, the Virginia Attorney General’s Office, Virginia State Police, the FBI, or the U.S. Secret Service.
The committee set a deadline of Nov. 27 at 10 a.m. Dehghani-Tafti’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
