Emily Rhodes is a character in the Designated Survivor series. She was the Chief of Staff to the Secretary of HUD Tom Kirkman. After Kirkman was sworn in as President, she continued to work closely with him and the White House Deputy Chief of Staff Aaron Shore (who was competing with her for the permanent position of White House Chief of Staff). Even though Aaron Shore was appointed as Chief of Staff, President Kirkman asked her to continue working with him as Special Advisor to the President of the United States. She became the White House Chief of Staff after Aaron resigned from the White House.
Biography
After Tom told Emily that President Richmond scrapped all of their topic points from the upcoming State of the Union address, Emily was briefly outraged. She later attended a meeting between Tom and Chief of Staff Charles Langdon but was dismissed shortly after.
Moments after the Capitol Bombing, Emily made multiple attempts to gain access to the White House to speak with Tom (who became the President of the United States) but was denied.
As the senior staff learn to work together, Emily grow close to Aaron Shore romantically. On the night of Peter MacLeish's confirmation for Vice President, Emily and Aaron kiss. Next day Aaron asked Emily to go on a date to see an Elvis impersonator which she agreed to. Before that can happen she was tasked by President Kirkman to investigate, among others, Aaron, as possible traitor. This, and the subsequent investigation, caused a rift between the two.
In Target, Emily offered Kendra Daynes to stay at her residence after a home invasion on the former. To insulate Kendra, she decided to pick up some things from Kendra's home. Kendra, unfortunately, caused a conspiracy to come to its ending after being involved in the prosecution of an old case. Due to this, Kendra became a victim and was placed under twenty-four hour protection, and Emily went to her home to pick up her personal effects. She was then shot by an unknown sniper and hit the floor, but the shot only left a scratch and resulted in 13 stitches, otherwise unharmed.
In the season 2 finale, Emily confronted the Chief Justice when a legal dilemma was presented to Tom Kirkman. Acting on behalf of the White House, this led Emily to contemplate if she was suitable for the job. She offered her resignation to Kirkman, which he refused, saying "you'll always have a seat next to me".
It is revealed later after Hannah Wells shot dead Valeria Poriskova that Emily had a secret meeting with her, handing her a file according to a video tape of the event.
Trivia
- Emily Rodes is the youngest and first female White House Chief of Staff in history.
- Her father Dave Rhodes left her and came to Washingon, but after 20 years returned to meet her and to ask for the president to endorse a corkscrew
- Emily graduated from Georgetown University.