# Matthew Miller (spokesperson)

Matthew Alan Miller (born 1973 or 1974) is an American public official who served as Spokesperson for the United States Department of State from 2023 to 2025. A longtime Democratic Party communications operative, he has previously served in the Obama administration and for multiple Democratic presidential campaigns.

## Early life and education

Miller was born in 1973 or 1974 to his mother, a management analyst for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and his father, a pastor. He graduated with honors from the University of Texas at Austin.

## Career

Miller has worked for Democratic U.S. Senator Robert Menendez, as well as the 2004 Kerry and the 2012 Obama presidential campaigns.
During the Obama administration, Miller headed the Office of Public Affairs at the Department of Justice, and served as the spokesman for U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.
After the 2020 U.S. presidential election, Miller was part of the Biden presidential transition.
During the early days of the Biden administration, he led the efforts to get Antony Blinken's nomination as U.S. Secretary of State confirmed. In 2022, he coordinated communications efforts regarding Russia's invasion of Ukraine for the U.S. National Security Council.
Miller then worked for management and communications firm Vianovo, while also appearing as an analyst on MSNBC.
On April 11, 2023, Miller was named as the spokesperson for the United States Department of State, succeeding Ned Price. He started in this new position on April 24, 2023.
On January 20, 2025, he was succeeded by Tammy Bruce.

### Controversies

As spokesperson for the State Department, Miller has repeatedly been accused or rebuked by journalists for laughing about inappropriate topics while communicating the U.S. government's public policy positions during the Israel–Hamas war. At one press conference on the matter, Miller stated the U.S. "doesn't dictate to any country what it must do", a journalist interjected "Unless you invade them." Miller's laughter prompted Al Jazeera to run the following headline: "US official laughs at question on invading other countries". While answering questions pertaining to the Gaza death toll, Miller was accused by a man, understood to be journalist Sam Husseini, of "smirking". Miller replied "Absolutely not" and that he wouldn't "entertain" the accusation. Several months after the "smirking" incident, Miller was rebuked by Matt Lee of the Associated Press, for laughing while answering a question about U.S. provided aid not reaching Gaza. The joking by Miller was further criticized by author Mark O'Connell in a piece for The Irish Times devoted to Miller's conduct; O'Connell attributed Miller's laughter to, "his apparent disregard for the humanity of the people forced to live, and to die, amid the savagery of Israel's assault."
Miller called United Nations Security Council Resolution 2728 "non-binding", although stating it should be enforced. After Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese presented a report concluding that Israel's assault on Gaza has met the threshold of genocide, Miller said that the U.S. had "for a longstanding period of time opposed the mandate of [Albanese]" and alleged that Albanese had a "history of anti-Semitic comments". Miller did not offer any examples or evidence to back up this accusation, which was condemned by public figures such as Trita Parsi, as well as several organizations, some of whom called for Miller's resignation or likened Miller to using a, "Trumpian smearing of a principled human rights expert".
In the early stages of the 2024 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, Miller stated that a U.S. citizen from Michigan who was killed in an Israeli airstrike, Kamel Ahmad Jawad, was not a U.S. citizen but instead a legal permanent resident. This prompted criticism from the Council on American–Islamic Relations, and a correction from the State Department, who confirmed Jawad's U.S. citizenship.
Following an absence of several weeks at the end of 2024, Miller held his final press briefing on January 15th 2025. During the farewell address, journalist Shaun Tandon of Agence France-Presse made mention of how Miller had "received lots of criticism for some of your responses". Miller sarcastically replied, "I have?" while letting out a chuckle. The following day, Miller attended Secretary of State Blinken's farewell address and facilitated the question and answer segment. During the opening remarks, Miller was referenced complimentary by Blinken, and disparagingly by members of the press, one of whom Miller personally escorted out out the room; reporter Max Blumenthal was led out for disrupting Blinken's comments prior to accepting questions, and Sam Husseini was forcibly removed after asking Blinken about Palestine. Blumenthal invoked the smirking incident of 2024 to Miller, and Husseini declared as police forced him from his seat, "Matt Miller has explicitly told me he will not answer my questions."

## Personal life

Miller married his second wife in 2010. His first marriage ended in a divorce.