Following closely in the footsteps of White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, Justice Department spokesman Matthew A. Miller has joined the micro-blogging site Twitter.
With a mix of personal and political posts, Miller recently used his new account to push back at former Bush White House Press Secretary Dana Perino for leaving out a key fact in a recent opinion piece critical of DOJ’s terror policies.
“@DanaPerino You know the 20% recidivism rate were all detainees rlsd by admin for which u were the spox, right? Notice u left that out,” wrote Miller about Perino’s National Review Online post criticizing the Justice Department and National Security Adviser John A. Brennan for saying a 20 percent recidivism rate “isn’t that bad.”
In an interview with Main Justice, Miller said he joined Twitter months ago after the Justice Department created an account. He began mostly as an observer but only recently began writing on the personal account a few weeks back. Miller said his Twittering habit was not a result of Gibbs’ presence.
Perino’s opinion piece was “wrong enough to deserve a correction,” Miller told Main Justice.
Many posts on Miller’s account have to do with his beloved Texas Long Horns, but he has occasionally dived into the political arena, highlighting stories about the Justice Department by The Associated Press and The New York Times.
Among others, Miller is following former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, The New York Times’ Charlie Savage, rapper Eminem, The Onion satirical newspaper, political strategist Karl Rove, NBC’s Chuck Todd, Salon’s Glenn Greenwald, Mike Allen of Politico, and of course, @TheJusticeDept.
He even corresponded with Salon’s Greenwald, writing about the controversy over civilian trials for terrorism suspects that it would be “Longer answer than [140] characters will allow, @ggreenwald, but we use every tool available to keep the American people safe.”
Miller has developed what he called somewhat of an obsession with Twitter, calling it a useful tool for “paying attention to what is going on in the world.” Often, he said, he finds out about breaking news via Twitter before he receives a breaking news e-mail.
“I doubt I’ll be a frequent – what do they call it – Twitterer? Tweeter? – but I’ll Tweet from time to time,” said Miller.
