WASHINGTON — The Donald J. Trump presidential campaign got a behind-the-scenes boost on Monday when one of Senator Jeff Sessions’ (R-Ala.) top staffers agreed to join the campaign as senior policy adviser.

Stephen Miller, who has worked for Sessions for the past seven years and until Monday held the role of Communications Director, first worked with Trump’s team last year when Sessions’ asked Miller to help them draft Mr. Trump’s immigration position.

He will now hit the ground running by prepping the billionaire businessman for Thursday evening’s Fox News debate, the final one before the Iowa caucuses, where Trump and Senator Ted Cruz (R-Tx.) are locked in a close race.

A Capitol Hill insider close to Sessions’ senate office told Yellowhammer on Monday that the Miller hiring is a significant move for the Trump campaign, and signals how serious the candidate has become about putting top-notch talent around himself.

“Anyone who has been around (Senator Sessions) these last few years knows how much the senator has relied on Stephen,” the source said on condition of anonymity so they could speak freely about Miller’s position in Sessions’ orbit. “In the heat of the Gang of Eight (immigration bill) fight, Stephen was the one prepping the senator for every interview and putting out all those press releases and research that made their office the hub of information for the anti-amnesty Right. (Stephen) has been responsible for who-knows-how-many Breitbart, Yellowhammer and Drudge headlines over the years. Trump doesn’t need help getting headlines, of course. But what I am saying is Stephen is so in tune with the way regular Americans are thinking — you know, the kind of nerve Trump is touching right now. He’s the kind of guy who Trump’s going to need around him to flesh out his policies. It’s a great fit.”

Miller, a 30-year-old veteran Hill staffer, first garnered attention in the conservative movement by vocally defending the Duke Lacrosse team against what turned out to be false rape allegations. Appearing on national television in his roles as a columnist for the Duke student newspaper and Executive Director of the Duke Conservative Union, Miller defended the rights of Duke lacrosse players against individuals leading what he described as a “witch hunt for political gain.”

He later served as press secretary to former Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and others before joining Sessions’ staff.

Miller’s introduction of Sessions at a political event in 2014 gives insight into both his affinity for the Alabama senator and the way he views the current mood of the electorate.

The one thing people crave above all else at this moment in history in the people they send to Washington is authenticity — people who are real, and in person, in private and in public the same person — people of character and integrity and dignity — people you can rely on to defend your interests and your values and to never be persuaded or influenced or manipulated by forces and interests and people who do not have the interests of America at heart.

And if there’s one person in this whole country who we all know to be that person, it is Senator Jeff Sessions. He is the most authentic and sincere and dedicated person that anyone could ever have the privilege to work for…

One of the things we’re missing from our political dialogue right now is the idea that the United States is a home. It is more than an accounting sheet. It is more than the sum of its GDP, it’s total tax collections or its total outlays. America is a family. America is the place that we love, to whom we give our loyalty and our allegiance and our devotion.

But Washington has forgotten for too long that it owes its loyalty, dedication and devotion to the citizens of this country who call it home. Washington does not serve the interests of people living overseas or corporations headquartered all across this globe, but the real flesh and blood citizens who together create this nation, this home…

And if there’s one man we can all rely on to defend the interests of that country and its people and its citizens, it’s United States Senator Jeff Sessions.

And now Miller has perhaps added Donald Trump to that list as well.