Two veteran FBI counterterrorism officials, Michael Burgwald and Courtland Rae, have been demoted and reassigned to bureau headquarters after facing complaints about their handling of an investigation into allegedly threatening phone calls made to Katie Miller, a conservative MAGA podcaster and wife of White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller. According to reports from Bloomberg Law, the two officials were removed from their roles at the Washington Field Office’s counterterrorism division on Friday. Both have extensive experience in national security and were involved in the FBI’s investigation into the January 6th, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Burgwald was assigned to investigate the alleged harassing phone calls made to Katie Miller, according to MS NOW. However, the team concluded that the calls did not meet the criteria for an FBI investigation and that no connection to terrorism was found, as reported by CNN. A former FBI official told MS NOW that "harassing phone calls aren’t even in the ballpark of terrorism unless an actual terrorist is doing the dialing." This decision not to pursue an investigation reportedly angered FBI leadership, and Burgwald had already been known to have a tense relationship with FBI Director Kash Patel. Stephen Miller and Patel were reportedly upset that Burgwald and Rae questioned the legitimacy of the investigation, MS NOW reported. Darren Cox, assistant director-in-charge of the Washington field office, ordered their removal, and CNN confirmed that Burgwald and Rae were taken off their roles. Details about the alleged calls to Katie Miller were not disclosed by officials or the media. White House spokesperson Lauren Bis told The Independent that the Miller family has never interacted with or met the demoted FBI officials. "Senior leadership at the FBI determined they were stifling investigations into very serious threats and made a unilateral decision to remove them," Bis said. Cox clarified in a statement on X that Director Patel did not order the removal of the two agents. "Director Patel did not order this decision. This was a personnel decision made at the Washington field office level alone based on our constant evaluation of mission needs," Cox said. He added that any suggestion otherwise is false. The Independent has reached out to the FBI for further details. Since taking over as FBI director, Patel has fired or demoted numerous career employees, including those who previously investigated Trump and his allies. The Millers, who welcomed their fourth child in June, moved last fall from their home in Arlington, Virginia, to military housing after allegedly receiving threats.