About Emily J. Miller
Born 1971. Emily J. Miller is an American journalist, writer and press secretary.
Education Miller graduated from Georgetown University. Before this, Miller worked as communications director for House Majority Whip Tom DeLay.
In 2004, while working as deputy press secretary for Colin Powell, Miller was criticized when she attempted to abruptly end an interview he was giving to Meet the Press. She instructed the cameraman to stop filming Powell, although Powell finished the interview after instructing Miller to allow him to continue. A spokesman for the State Department later defended Miller, saying that she had ended the interview because it had run long despite her "[making] every attempt to get NBC to finish up". After this, she worked at The Washington Times as a columnist and senior editor of their opinion pages,
In 2012, Miller was awarded the Clark Mollenhoff Award for Investigative Reporting by the conservative Institute on Political Journalism for her "Emily Gets Her Gun" column series in The Washington Times, in which she describes her attempt to legally acquire and register a handgun in Washington, D.C. after experiencing a home invasion. She recounted the home invasion as an outdoors encounter with a burglar who was leaving the home as she returned.
In 2013, Miller was awarded the David & Goliath Award by Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership. In the same year, Miller published a book titled Emily Gets Her Gun: But Obama Wants to Take Yours, based on her Washington Times column.
In 2015, Erik Wemple of The Washington Post published several articles criticizing Miller for her inconsistent retellings of the incident, and highlighting discrepancies between her descriptions and police reports. Wemple accused her of exaggerating the story to advance her career as a gun lobbyist, saying, "Nothing animates lobbying pushes quite like the story of a criminal invading the home of a law-abiding citizen."
FDA appointment and subsequent career In August 2020, Miller, who had no previous science or medical experience, was appointed as Assistant Commissioner for Media Affairs for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), including being their top spokesperson, a role usually performed by non-political civil servants.
In June 2021, Miller guest hosted The Hills daily news program Rising.
Role in Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal Miller received heavy news coverage in 2006 in connection to the Jack Abramoff Indian lobbying scandal after cooperating with FBI prosecutors who asked her about illegal activities committed by her ex-fiancé Michael Scanlon. Scanlon in turn went on to assist with the investigation of Jack Abramoff, who was his former business partner. Miller was originally thought to be the first whistleblower in the scandal, although it later became clear that it was Tom Rodgers who exposed the fraud.
Miller and some others have criticized the media for portraying her as a jilted ex-fiancée who decided to expose Scanlon as revenge when he called off their engagement. In a 2009 interview with Howard Kurtz, Miller said that this portrayal was inaccurate, and described her difficulty escaping it. She also discussed contacting director George Hickenlooper and actor Kevin Spacey to try to be removed from the film Casino Jack, a 2010 comedy based on the Abramoff scandal in which she is portrayed by Rachelle Lefevre. She criticized the film for portraying her as "a bitch... materialistic... bad in bed... [and] abetting a federal crime".
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Important facts
People in Emily J. Miller's life
Named in this biography and alive at the same time
Contemporaries
People whose lives overlapped Emily J. Miller's
Frequently asked questions
Who is Emily J. Miller?
American journalist (born 1971)
When was Emily J. Miller born?
Emily J. Miller was born in 1971.
What is Emily J. Miller's occupation?
Emily J. Miller is a journalist, writer and press secretary.
What nationality is Emily J. Miller?
Emily J. Miller is American.
Sources & further reading
Cite this page
APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Emily J. Miller. https://biography.guide/emily-j-miller/
MLA: "Emily J. Miller." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/emily-j-miller/.
Chicago: "Emily J. Miller." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/emily-j-miller/.
Data last updated: 2026-09-22 · Spot an error? Report a correction.
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