Matthew Miller
Director of Public Affairs
Office of Public Affairs
The Office of Public Affairs is responsible for ensuring that the public and press are informed about the Department's activities and about the priorities and policies of the Attorney General and the President with regard to law enforcement and legal affairs. Mission Statement
The Office of Public Affairs is the principal point of contact for the Department of Justice with the news media.
The Office is responsible for ensuring that the public is informed about the Department's activities and about the priorities and policies of the Attorney General and the President with regard to law enforcement and legal affairs.
The Office advises the Attorney General and other Department officials on all aspects of media relations and communications issues. The Office also coordinates the public affairs units of all Department component organizations.
The Office of Public Affairs prepares and issues Department news releases and frequently reviews and approves those issued by component agencies. It serves reporters assigned to the Department by responding to queries, issuing news releases and statements, arranging interviews and conducting news conferences. The Office of Public Affairs issues approximately 700 news releases each year involving the activities of the Department.
The Office ensures that information provided to the news media by the Department is current, complete and accurate. It also ensures that all applicable laws, regulations and policies involving the release of information to the public are followed so that maximum disclosure is made without jeopardizing investigations and prosecutions, violating rights of individuals, or compromising national security interests.
Staff Contacts:
Tracy Russo
New Media Specialist
(202) 514-2007
DOJ
Matthew Miller, Holder's spokesman, said Holder does not believe his probe will affect CIA employees' commitment to their work.
"The attorney general's decision to order a preliminary review into this matter was made in line with his duty to examine the facts and to follow the law. As he has made clear, the Department of Justice will not prosecute anyone who acted in good faith and within the scope of the legal guidance given by the Office of Legal Counsel regarding the interrogation of detainees," Miller said in a written statement.
Seattle Times
Matthew Miller
Department: Justice
Position: Director, Office of Public Affairs
202-514-2007
Age: 35
Childhood State: Texas
Previous State: Texas
Miller, 35, is the front man for repairing DOJ's damaged public image after the scandals of the Bush years. "We took office with enormous challenges," he says. "People at the department were demoralized." Miller, who landed his job as a result of his work on Eric Holder's confirmation team, praises the new AG for his efforts to increase professionalism and transparency, specifically citing the release of the interrogation and executive power memos earlier this year.
During the last election cycle, Miller ran communications for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Previously, he was communications director for Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., a position he also held in Florida with the Kerry-Edwards campaign in 2004. A true Texas son, the Amarillo native and University of Texas graduate lives in the District with his chocolate Lab, General Sam Houston.
National Journal
Politicization Alert:Matthew Miller to Justice?
posted at 3:50 pm on January 26, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
Remember when Democrats screeched about the politicization at the Department of Justice when George Bush replaced nine at-will political appointees? I’ve written that AG nominee Eric Holder’s work at Justice in the Clinton administration demonstrated a lot more political hackery than anything seen under Bush, and apparently that won’t be the end of politicization at Justice under Barack Obama, either. Chris Cillizza notes that Matthew Miller has taken the job of spokesperson for the DoJ despite his past history of politicizing an actual investigation:
Matthew Miller, who spearheaded the communications operation at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee during the 2008 election, is moving inside the walls of the Obama administration as chief spokesman for the Justice Department. With Eric H. Holder Jr. expected to be confirmed as attorney general this week, Miller will be jumping from the frying pan into the fire. He’s had good practice. Before working under Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) at the DSCC, Miller was communications director for the successful 2006 Senate campaign of Robert Menendez (D-N.J.).
If you don’t remember Matthew Miller, it’s a shame — because he played a central role in a scandal that helped put Republicans in the minority in 2006. Miller got the e-mails between disgraced Congressman Mark Foley and underaged interns, but instead of giving them to investigators, Miller instead tried giving them to reporters in Florida, Foley’s home state. When that apparently didn’t work, Miller turned the material over to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. The Washington Post reported after the election:
"Democratic Caucus communications director Matt Miller saw the e-mails as inappropriate, but rather than taking them to authorities, he shopped them to the press, first to the Miami Herald and the St. Petersburg Times that November, then to the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call. He also gave the e-mails to the communications director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, a point apparently validating Republican charges that senior Democrats were behind the revelation of Foley’s conduct."
Republicans objected to the handling of the e-mails and accused Miller of politicizing Foley’s conduct rather than ensuring that the House interns were safe from any potential predatory conduct. In fact, a familiar name headed the DCCC and knew about the e-mails long before the Ethics Committee was apprised of their existence:
"The head of the House Democrats’ campaign committee, Rep. Rahm Emanuel, had heard of former Rep. Mark Foley’s inappropriate e-mails to a former male page a year before they became public, a campaign committee aide told CNN. …
In his deposition to the ethics committee, Miller said he also sent Foley’s e-mails to the St. Petersburg (Florida) Times, the Miami Herald and Roll Call, according to the report."
Miller also sent the material to Harper’s Magazine “and possibly others,” the report said.
"Miller told the ethics committee he had sent the e-mails to the media because he considered them inappropriate and predicted “nothing would come” from giving them to the ethics panel or the House Page Board, according to the report."
Matthew Miller had evidence of possible pederastic predatory behavior, and instead of acting to protect the interns, he tried to make political hay out of the e-mails. I guess he’ll fit right in at a Holder-led Department of Justice. Will that be normal procedure for investigating potential crimes at the Obama DoJ?