Matt Whitaker
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Matthew George Whitaker (born October 29, 1969) is an American lawyer, lobbyist and politician who served as the acting United States Attorney General from November 7, 2018, to February 14, 2019. He was appointed to that position by President Donald Trump after Jeff Sessions resigned at Trump's request. Whitaker had previously served as Chief of Staff to Sessions from October 2017 to November 2018. While attending the University of Iowa, Whitaker played tight end for the University of
Iowa Hawkeyes football The Iowa Hawkeyes football program represents the University of Iowa in college football. The Hawkeyes compete in the West division of the Big Ten Conference. Iowa joined the Conference (then known as the Western Conference or Big Nine) in 1899 ...
team, including in the 1991 Rose Bowl. In 2002, Whitaker was the candidate of the
Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa *Republican Party (Liberia) * Republican Part ...
for Treasurer of Iowa. From 2004 to 2009, he served as the
United States Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa The United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa (in case citations, S.D. Iowa) has jurisdiction over forty-seven of Iowa's ninety-nine counties. It is subject to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals (except for patent claims and ...
, where he was known for aggressively prosecuting drug traffickers."Attorney Goes After Drug Traffickers", '' The Des Moines Register'' (March 28, 2005), p. 4B. Whitaker ran in the 2014 Iowa Republican primary for the United States Senate. He later wrote opinion pieces and appeared on talk-radio shows and cable news as the executive director of the
Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT), formerly the Free Market American Educational Foundation, Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust and Working for Rights to Express & Communication, is a Washington,DC-based conservative ...
(FACT), a conservative advocacy group. On December 7, 2018, Trump nominated William Barr for Attorney General. The legality of Whitaker's appointment as acting U.S. Attorney General was challenged in multiple lawsuits, and questioned by legal scholars, commentators, and politicians. On February 15, 2019, after Barr was sworn in on the previous day, Whitaker became a senior counselor in the Office of the
Associate Attorney General The associate attorney general of the United States is the third-highest-ranking official in the U.S. Department of Justice. The associate attorney general advises and assists the attorney general and the deputy attorney general in policies rela ...
; he resigned from the Justice Department on March 2, 2019. After leaving the Justice Department, Whitaker became a guest on news and analysis shows including as a CNN contributor, and was affiliated with the law firm of Graves Garrett. In August 2019, he became a managing director at
Axiom Strategies Axiom Strategies is one of the largest Republican political consulting firms in the United States. Founded in 2005 by Jeff Roe, who has been described as "Ted Cruz's Karl Rove", it has been described as a "mega firm" by industry professionals. O ...
and Clout Public Affairs.


Early life, education, and college football career

Matthew George Whitaker was born in Des Moines, Iowa, on October 29, 1969. He graduated from
Ankeny High School Ankeny High School is a public high school located in Ankeny, Iowa, United States. It is part of the Ankeny Community School District, and serves grades 10 through 12. History AHS opened in 1913 and graduated six seniors in the spring of 1914. ...
, where he was a football star. He was inducted into the Iowa High School Football Hall of Fame in 2009. Whitaker attended the University of Iowa, receiving a bachelor's degree in communications in 1991 and Master of Business Administration and
Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...
degrees in 1995. As an undergraduate between 1990 and 1992, Whitaker was the backup tight end for the University of
Iowa Hawkeyes football The Iowa Hawkeyes football program represents the University of Iowa in college football. The Hawkeyes compete in the West division of the Big Ten Conference. Iowa joined the Conference (then known as the Western Conference or Big Nine) in 1899 ...
team under coach Hayden Fry, including the 1991 Rose Bowl the Hawkeyes lost to the Washington Huskies. Whitaker played in 33 games, including two bowl games, and made 21 receptions for a total of 203 yards, scoring two touchdowns. In 1993, he received the Big Ten Medal of Honor for proficiency in scholarship and athletics awarded each year to one male and one female student-athlete at each Big Ten Conference school. Whitaker graduated from college in three-and-a-half years, and played his last season of football while attending law school. Throughout his career, Whitaker had stated that he was an
Academic All-America The Academic All-America program is a student-athlete recognition program. The program selects an honorary sports team composed of the most outstanding student-athletes of a specific season for positions in various sports—who in turn are giv ...
n in college. A December 2018 investigation by ''The Wall Street Journal'' found that he was not. He was sponsor GTE's 1992 GTE District VII Academic All-District selection; an Iowa football guide erroneously referred to the honor as GTE District VII Academic All-American. A spokeswoman for
College Sports Information Directors of America College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) is an organization that focuses on professional development and support for sports information directors at all levels. It offers awards, scholarships, and grants in support of SIDs and pros ...
(CoSIDA) said CoSIDA was less formally organized in the 1990s and "We know that people over time use terms interchangeably and innocently."


Career

After graduating from law school, Whitaker lived in Minneapolis, Minnesota from 1995 to 2001, before moving back to Iowa.


Private practice and business and political activities (1995–2004)

Whitaker worked for a number of regional law firms, including Briggs & Morgan ( Minneapolis) and Finley Alt Smith (
Des Moines Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, ...
), and he was corporate counsel for national grocery store chain SuperValu in Minneapolis. He also owned or co-owned a trailer manufacturing company from 2002 to 2005 and a day-care center from 2003 to 2015. In 2003, Whitaker and a partner co-founded Buy the Yard Concrete, based at Whitaker's home in Urbandale, Iowa. In 2005, the company and Whitaker were sued in Nevada for $12,000 in unpaid rental fees for supplies and equipment related to a concrete project in Las Vegas. The lawsuit was settled out of court. Whitaker ran as a Republican for Treasurer of Iowa in 2002, losing to incumbent
Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...
Michael Fitzgerald by 55% to 43%.


United States Attorney

Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley recommended Whitaker as one of three attorneys suggested to President
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
for the position of
United States Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa The United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa (in case citations, S.D. Iowa) has jurisdiction over forty-seven of Iowa's ninety-nine counties. It is subject to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals (except for patent claims and ...
. In February 2004, Bush nominated Whitaker to the position, despite assertions that Whitaker lacked relevant legal experience. Senate Democrats objecting to Bush nominees held up the nomination for four months before Whitaker was confirmed on June 15, 2004. In his first year in office, Whitaker issued a record 500 indictments, more than half of which were drug prosecutions, mainly related to trafficking of
methamphetamine Methamphetamine (contracted from ) is a potent central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is mainly used as a recreational drug and less commonly as a second-line treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and obesity. Methamph ...
. In July 2005, Whitaker joined neighboring U.S. Attorneys
Michael Heavican Michael G. Heavican (born August 4, 1947) is the chief justice of the Supreme Court of Nebraska. He was appointed to the court on October 2, 2006, by Governor Dave Heineman. Early life and education Heavican was born on August 4, 1947, in Col ...
and Charles Larson Sr. in issuing a warning that persons crossing state lines to obtain
pseudoephedrine Pseudoephedrine (PSE) is a sympathomimetic drug of the phenethylamine and amphetamine chemical classes. It may be used as a nasal/sinus decongestant, as a stimulant, or as a wakefulness-promoting agent in higher doses. It was first characteri ...
, a methamphetamine ingredient, could be prosecuted in federal court. As U.S. Attorney, Whitaker sought stringent sentences for individuals charged with drug crimes. One case involved a woman who had two prior nonviolent drug convictions and was informed by Whitaker's office that, as a third-time offender, her sentence could be enhanced to a mandatory life sentence unless she agreed to a plea deal of 21 to 27 years in prison. She agreed to the plea bargain. Federal District Court Judge
Robert W. Pratt Robert William Pratt (born May 3, 1947) is an inactive senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa. Education and career Pratt was born in Emmetsburg, Iowa. He received an Associate ...
said in 2016 that the prosecutors in the case had misused their authority, forcing him to impose a sentence "disproportionate to her crime," and urged President Obama to grant clemency. Obama commuted her sentence after she had served 11 years in prison. Whitaker also served on a regional anti-terrorism task force, which examined both international and domestic threats, and focused on prosecuting child pornography and violent crimes against children. From 2005 to 2007, Whitaker's office, together with the FBI, investigated and unsuccessfully prosecuted Iowa State Senator Matt McCoy on charges of attempting to extort $2,000. A columnist for '' The Des Moines Register'' said that the case was based on "the word of a man former associates depicted as a drug user, a deadbeat and an abuser of women; a man so shady even his
Alcoholics Anonymous Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is an international mutual aid fellowship of alcoholics dedicated to abstinence-based recovery from alcoholism through its spiritually-inclined Twelve Step program. Following its Twelve Traditions, AA is non-professi ...
sponsors called him 'a pathological liar.'" The jury reached a verdict of not guilty within two hours. In 2007, Whitaker also led the investigation of four executives of the
Central Iowa Employment and Training Consortium CIETC is an acronym for the Central Iowa Employment and Training Consortium. CIETC is a public agency formed in an agreement among the City of Des Moines, and the surrounding counties of Boone, Dallas, Jasper, Madison, Marion, Polk, Story and Wa ...
(CIETC), a Des Moines-based job training agency, who were accused of collectively stealing more than $2 million from the agency over a three-year period. The alleged ringleader, CIETC CEO Ramona Cunningham, pleaded guilty on June 30, 2008. Whitaker resigned in November 2009 following the Senate confirmation of his replacement,
Nicholas A. Klinefeldt Nicholas Arthur Klinefeldt (born 1974) is an American attorney who served as the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa from 2009 to 2015. Education Klinefeldt was born in 1974 in Des Moines, Iowa. He attended received a Bach ...
, who was nominated by President Obama.


Private practice and business and political activities (2009–2017)

From 2009 to 2017, Whitaker was a managing partner of the small general practice law firm Whitaker Hagenow & Gustoff LLP (later Hagenow & Gustoff LLP) in Des Moines. In 2011, Whitaker applied for an appointment to the Iowa Supreme Court but was not among the finalists whose names were submitted to the governor for selection for one of the three open seats. In 2011, he co-founded Whitaker Strategy Group, a lobbying and consulting firm. In 2012, Whitaker and two partners invested, under a venture named MEM Investment, in the purchase and development of an affordable-housing apartment building in Des Moines. In 2014, Whitaker's partners left this partnership, and by spring of 2016, the company was unable to complete the renovations on time, and the city terminated the loan agreement. The building was then sold and completed by another contractor. Whitaker was a candidate for the Republican nomination in the
2014 United States Senate election in Iowa The 2014 United States Senate election in Iowa was held on November 4, 2014. Incumbent Democratic Senator Tom Harkin did not run for reelection to a sixth term in office. U.S. Representative Bruce Braley was unopposed for the Democratic nomina ...
. He came in fourth in the Republican primary, with 11,909 votes (7.54%). Whitaker then chaired the campaign of
Sam Clovis Samuel Harvey Clovis Jr. (born September 18, 1949) is a former United States Air Force officer, talk radio host, and political figure. Clovis is currently retired in Iowa. Clovis unsuccessfully ran for Iowa state treasurer in the 2014 election ...
, another unsuccessful primary candidate who had been selected to run for Iowa State Treasurer. Clovis lost in the November 2014 general election.


World Patent Marketing

From 2014 to 2017, Whitaker served on the
advisory board An advisory board is a body that provides non-binding strategic advice to the management of a corporation, organization, or foundation. The informal nature of an advisory board gives greater flexibility in structure and management compared to th ...
of
World Patent Marketing World Patent Marketing (WPM), founded in 2014 by Scott G. Cooper was a fraudulent Miami-based corporation that presented itself as an invention-promotion firm but was later determined by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to defraud investors se ...
(WPM), a Florida-based company billed as an
invention promotion firm An invention promotion firm or invention submission corporation provides services to inventors to help them in develop or market their inventions. These firms may offer to evaluate the patentability of inventions, file patent applications, build pr ...
. According to an FBI investigation, the advisory board members never met. In a 2014 statement Whitaker publicly vouched for WPM, claiming they went "beyond making statements about doing business 'ethically' and translate those words into action". The company contributed to Whitaker's 2014 U.S. Senate campaign, and over the three-year period from 2014 and 2017 paid Whitaker less than $17,000 for work performed. Some customers accused the company of using Whitaker's background as a
U.S. Attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal c ...
to threaten them. In one 2015 email mentioning his background as a former federal prosecutor, Whitaker told a customer that filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau or "smearing" the company online could result in "serious civil and criminal consequences". The owner of
Ripoff Report Ripoff Report is a privately owned and operated for-profit website founded by Ed Magedson. The Ripoff Report has been online since December 1998 and is operated by Xcentric Ventures, LLC which is based in Tempe, Arizona. Reports and rebuttals Rip ...
told ''The Wall Street Journal'' that Whitaker had called him in 2015 demanding his website take down negative reports about WPM, alleging, "He threatened to ruin my business if I didn't remove the reports. He aid hewould have the government shut me down under some homeland security law". The company was later determined to have engaged in deceptive practices. In 2017, FTC investigators examined whether Whitaker had played any role in making threats of legal action to silence the company's critics. Whitaker rebuffed an FTC subpoena for records in October 2017, shortly after he had joined the Department of Justice. After Whitaker's appointment in the Department of Justice in September 2017, White House and senior Justice Department officials were reportedly surprised to learn of Whitaker's connection to the company. A spokesperson for Whitaker said that he was not aware of the company's fraud,Swaine, Jon (November 10, 2018)
Trump's acting attorney general involved in firm that scammed veterans out of life savings
'' The Guardian''.
and the
court receiver A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accord ...
in the case, Jonathan Perlman, stated he had "no reason to believe that hitakerknew of any of the wrongdoing."


Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust

From October 2014 to September 2017, Whitaker was the executive director of the
Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT), formerly the Free Market American Educational Foundation, Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust and Working for Rights to Express & Communication, is a Washington,DC-based conservative ...
(FACT); he was the organization's only full-time employee in 2015 and 2016. FACT, founded in late 2014, is a conservative nonprofit organization specializing in legal and ethical issues related to politics. The group was backed by $1 million in seed money from conservative donors, whom Whitaker declined to identify to the media. According to the organization's first tax return, its funding — $600,000 in 2014 — came from a conservative
donor-advised fund In the United States, a donor-advised fund (commonly called a DAF) is a charitable giving vehicle administered by a public charity created to manage charitable donations on behalf of organizations, families, or individuals. To participate in a don ...
called
Donors Trust Donors Trust is an American nonprofit donor-advised fund. It was founded in 1999 with the goal of "safeguarding the intent of libertarian and conservative donors". As a donor advised fund, Donors Trust is not legally required to disclose the id ...
, a pass-through vehicle that allows donors to remain anonymous. From its creation in 2014 through 2018, FACT reported contributions of $3.5 million on its tax filings; as a
501(c)(3) organization A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, Trust (business), trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of t ...
, it did not disclose its donors. The group's largest single expense was Whitaker's salary; Whitaker collected $1.2 million from the group over four years, making it the overwhelming source of his income from 2016 onward. While Whitaker was the head of FACT, the organization had a special focus on the Hillary Clinton email controversy and perceived favoritism in the business dealings of Clinton. Despite claiming to be nonpartisan, the organization called for ethics investigations into or filed complaints for more than 40 different Democratic politicians, officials, and organizations, compared to only a few Republicans. FACT was characterized by CNN reporter
Drew Griffin Andrew Charles Griffin (October 21, 1962 – December 17, 2022) was an American journalist. He won several Emmy Awards and Peabody Awards for his work at CNN, notably for the coverage of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and an investigation that led t ...
as using "the legal system as a political weapon", and it was reported that an unnamed source described as a "GOP operative" had characterized the organization as a "chop shop of fake ethics complaints". During his time at FACT, Whitaker wrote opinion pieces that appeared in '' USA Today'' and the '' Washington Examiner'', and he appeared regularly on conservative talk-radio shows and cable news.


CNN contributor

For four months, from June to September 2017, Whitaker was a CNN contributor. One month prior to joining the Justice Department, he wrote an opinion column for CNN titled "Mueller's Investigation of Trump is Going Too Far". He retweeted a link to an article that stated that Mueller's investigation was a "lynch mob", that it should be limited, and that it should not probe into Trump's finances.


Trump administration


Department of Justice Chief of Staff

On September 22, 2017, a Justice Department official announced that Sessions was appointing Whitaker to replace
Jody Hunt Joseph Harold Hunt (born September 30, 1961) is an American lawyer. He was the United States Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division of the Department of Justice from September 2018 to July 2020. Education Hunt received his Bache ...
as his chief of staff.
George J. Terwilliger III George James Terwilliger III (born June 5, 1950) is an American lawyer and public official. He is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of McGuireWoods LLP where he is head of the firm's Crisis Response practice and co-head of its white colla ...
, a former U.S. attorney and deputy attorney general, said in his role as chief of staff, Whitaker would have dealt daily with making "substantive choices about what is important to bring to the AG". As Chief of Staff, Whitaker discussed with and transmitted to U.S. Attorney for Utah
John W. Huber John W. Huber (born 1967) is an American lawyer who served as the United States Attorney for the District of Utah from June 2015 to February 2021. He was first nominated for the position by President Barack Obama in February 2015. Huber offered ...
a letter from Sessions regarding investigating former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at Trump's request. While the Justice Department denied the letter existed in response to a FOIA request filed by watchdog grou
American Oversight
it later retracted the denial and made public an email from Whitaker to Huber about the investigation and attaching Sessions' letter.


Acting Attorney General

With the resignation of Sessions on November 7, 2018, Whitaker was appointed to serve as Acting Attorney General under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998. In that position, he directly supervised
Robert Mueller Robert Swan Mueller III (; born August 7, 1944) is an American lawyer and government official who served as the sixth director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 2001 to 2013. A graduate of Princeton University and New York ...
's
Special Counsel investigation In the United States, a special counsel (formerly called special prosecutor or independent counsel) is a lawyer appointed to investigate, and potentially prosecute, a particular case of suspected wrongdoing for which a conflict of interest exist ...
, which had previously been supervised by Deputy Attorney General
Rod Rosenstein Rod Jay Rosenstein (; born January 13, 1965) is an American attorney who served as the 37th United States deputy attorney general from April 2017 until May 2019. Prior to his appointment, he served as a United States attorney for the District ...
in his role as Acting Attorney General, due to the recusal of Attorney General Jeff Sessions. In January 2019, Whitaker along with
Homeland Security Secretary The United States secretary of homeland security is the head of the United States Department of Homeland Security, the federal department tasked with ensuring public safety in the United States. The secretary is a member of the Cabinet of the U ...
Kirstjen Nielsen,
Secretary of Commerce The United States secretary of commerce (SecCom) is the head of the United States Department of Commerce. The secretary serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United States on all matters relating to commerce. The secretary rep ...
Wilbur Ross, and FBI Director
Christopher A. Wray Christopher Asher Wray (born December 17, 1966) is an American attorney who is the eighth Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, serving since 2017. From 2003 to 2005, Wray served as Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Crimina ...
announced 23 criminal charges against Chinese technology giant Huawei and its CFO Meng Wanzhou, including
financial fraud In law, fraud is intent (law), intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud can violate Civil law (common law), civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid t ...
,
money laundering Money laundering is the process of concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdictions ...
,
conspiracy to defraud the United States Conspiracy against the United States, or conspiracy to defraud the United States,§ 92318 U.S.C. § 371—Conspiracy to Defraud the United States U.S. Department of Justice's ''United States Attorneys' Manual''. is a federal offense in the United ...
, theft of trade secret technology, providing bonuses to workers who stole confidential information from companies around the world, wire fraud, obstruction of justice and sanctions violations. In late 2018, he rejected a request from U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman to file criminal charges against Halkbank, the largest state-owned bank in Turkey, for an alleged multi-billion-dollar scheme to evade U.S. sanctions on Iran. On December 18, 2018, Whitaker signed the regulation that reclassified bump stocks as machine guns, rendering them illegal to possess under federal law. The four members of Trump's
Federal Commission on School Safety The Federal Commission on School Safety or School Safety Commission is a council of members of the Cabinet of the United States formed in March 2018, in the wake of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting the previous month, to address gun violen ...
were appointed in the wake of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre, with Whitaker replacing Sessions in November 2018. The commission's report issued in December 2018, called for improved mental health services, recommended that school systems consider arming teachers and other personnel; and advised against increasing the minimum age required for firearm purchases. One of the more controversial elements of the commission's report was a call to rescind a 2014 Education Department guidance document meant to reduce racial disparities in school discipline, and a criticism of the legal concept of disparate impact. The report called for improvements to mental health services, but did not propose federal funding or policy changes to deal with gaps in the mental health care system. The report did not recommend tighter laws to restrict access to guns, prompting criticism from the
National Association of Secondary School Principals The National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) is a national organization of and voice for middle level and high school principals, assistant principals, and aspiring school leaders from across the United States and more than 45 ...
. Whitaker also initiated implementation of the First Step Act.


= Supervision of the Special Counsel investigation

= In 2017, Whitaker had repeatedly criticized the Mueller investigation on television and on social media and stated that there was no collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign. Justice Department ethics officials advised Whitaker that there was no financial, personal, or political conflict that would require him to recuse himself from supervision of the Russia investigation. They also said that it was a "close call" and his decision, but in their opinion he "should recuse himself because 'a reasonable person with knowledge of the relevant facts' would question his impartiality due to the statements he had made to the press." Whitaker decided not to recuse himself, not wanting to be the first attorney general "who had recused imselfbased on statements in the news media." Democrats poised to assume chairmanships of key House committees in January 2019 warned the Justice Department and other departments to preserve records relating to the Mueller investigation and Sessions' firing. Republicans Senator Susan Collins, Senator
Jeff Flake Jeffry Lane Flake (born December 31, 1962) is an American politician and diplomat who is the current U.S Ambassador to Turkey. A member of the Republican Party, Flake served in the United States House of Representatives from 2001 to 2013 and ...
, and Senator-elect
Mitt Romney Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American politician, businessman, and lawyer serving as the junior United States senator from Utah since January 2019, succeeding Orrin Hatch. He served as the 70th governor of Massachusetts f ...
, also issued statements insisting that Mueller's investigation must remain free from interference. In February 2019, Whitaker testified before Congress that he had not interfered in any way in the special counsel investigation, and in July 2019, Special Counsel
Robert Mueller Robert Swan Mueller III (; born August 7, 1944) is an American lawyer and government official who served as the sixth director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 2001 to 2013. A graduate of Princeton University and New York ...
confirmed in his own testimony before Congress that there was no interference with the investigation.


Legality and constitutionality of the appointment

In a 2018 opinion, the U.S. Department of Justice's
Office of Legal Counsel The Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) is an office in the United States Department of Justice that assists the Attorney General's position as legal adviser to the President and all executive branch agencies. It drafts legal opinions of the Attorney ...
(OLC) said that the appointment was constitutional due to its temporary nature. The OLC noted that an assistant attorney general who was not confirmed by the Senate had been appointed as acting Attorney General in 1866, and that other individuals not confirmed by the Senate had served as principal officers in an acting capacity more than 160 times between 1809 and 1860, and at least nine times during the Trump, Obama, and Bush administrations. A number of prominent legal experts, scholars, and former prosecutors and Department of Justice officials offered varying opinions over the legality and constitutionality of Whitaker's appointment.
Stephen Vladeck Stephen Isaiah Vladeck (born September 26, 1979) is the Charles Alan Wright Chair in Federal Courts at the University of Texas School of Law, where he specializes in national security law, especially with relation to the prosecution of war cr ...
, a law professor at University of Texas, argued that the appointment was permissible under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998 and the U.S. Supreme Court decision in the 1898 case of '' United States v. Eaton'', because it was temporary and because Sessions formally resigned. Lawyers
Neal Katyal Neal Kumar Katyal (born March 12, 1970) is an American lawyer and academic. He is a partner at Hogan Lovells and the Paul and Patricia Saunders Professor of National Security Law at Georgetown University Law Center. During the Obama administrati ...
and
George T. Conway III George Thomas Conway III (born September 2, 1963) is an American lawyer and activist. Conway was considered by President Donald Trump for the position of Solicitor General of the United States, and a post as an assistant attorney general headin ...
argued in a ''New York Times'' op-ed that the appointment was unconstitutional under the Appointments Clause, as the position of Attorney General is a "principal" one requiring Senate confirmation. Law professor John Yoo from
Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California * George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer ...
, who served as a deputy assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel in the George W. Bush administration, argued that the Appointments Clause renders the Federal Vacancies Reform Act unconstitutional and that Whitaker's appointment was in violation of that clause. John E. Bies, who served as a deputy assistant attorney general in the OLC in the Obama Administration, wrote that the legality and constitutionality of Whitaker's appointment was an open question. Bies also pointed out that it was a difficult argument to make that Sessions was fired instead of resigning since a court would probably not "look past an official's formal statement that they resigned".


Legal challenges

There were at least nine unsuccessful legal challenges to Whitaker's appointment. Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh, representing the
State of Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to it ...
, filed for an
injunction An injunction is a legal and equitable remedy in the form of a special court order that compels a party to do or refrain from specific acts. ("The court of appeals ... has exclusive jurisdiction to enjoin, set aside, suspend (in whole or in pa ...
against Whitaker's appointment. Maryland had previously filed a suit against then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions regarding his inability to defend the Affordable Care Act in court as part of a broader hostility against the Obama-era law from the Trump administration. Maryland was expected to test the argument in court that Whitaker was unlawfully named acting Attorney General, and thus had no standing in the court or authority to respond to their lawsuit. Maryland argued that Whitaker's appointment violated the Constitution, which requires that principal officers of the United States be appointed "with the Advice and Consent of the Senate". Because Whitaker was not serving in a Senate-confirmed position when he was appointed, the state argued that the role of acting Attorney General rightfully belonged to Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein. Judge
Ellen Lipton Hollander Ellen Frances Lipton Hollander (born May 24, 1949) is a Senior status, Senior United States federal judge, United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland. Early life and education Born Ellen Frances ...
dismissed the case in February 2019. Two other federal district courts issued rulings holding that Whitaker had been properly appointed to the position. Three Democratic senators — Richard Blumenthal, Sheldon Whitehouse, and Mazie Hirono — filed suit on November 18, 2018, in the D.C. Circuit Court, saying the President violated the Constitution and denied the Senate its right to approve the nomination. Lawyers for Doug Haning, a former agricultural products executive, filed a motion on November 13, 2018, asking a federal court in St. Louis to rule that Whitaker's appointment as acting Attorney General was illegal and thus he had no standing to hear the case. South Texas College of Law professor Josh Blackman predicted a flood of similar motions. Attorney Tom Goldstein filed a motion with the U.S. Supreme Court on November 16, 2018 on behalf of a Nevada resident, asking the court to decide whether Rod Rosenstein was the statutory and constitutional successor to Sessions in a pending lawsuit, rather than Whitaker. The U.S. Supreme Court denied the motion on January 14, 2019.


Legal and policy views


Constitutional issues

Whitaker stated in a question-and-answer session during his 2014 Iowa Senatorial campaign that "the courts are supposed to be the inferior branch". Whitaker was critical of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in ''
Marbury v. Madison ''Marbury v. Madison'', 5 U.S. (1 Cranch) 137 (1803), was a List of landmark court decisions in the United States, landmark Supreme Court of the United States, U.S. Supreme Court case that established the principle of Judicial review in the Uni ...
'' (1803), the decision that allows judicial review of the constitutionality of the acts of the other branches of government, and several other Supreme Court holdings. When Whitaker later became acting Attorney General four years later,
Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...
professor Laurence Tribe commented on Whitaker's views that "the overall picture he presents would have virtually no scholarly support", and that they would be "'destabilizing' to society if he used the power of the attorney general to advance them". Whitaker also stated during his 2014 Senate bid that he would not support "secular" judges and that judges should "have a biblical view of justice". Asked if he meant
Levitical Levites (or Levi) (, he, ''Lǝvīyyīm'') are Jewish males who claim patrilineal descent from the Tribe of Levi. The Tribe of Levi descended from Levi, the third son of Jacob and Leah. The surname ''Halevi'', which consists of the Hebrew defi ...
or New Testament justice, he replied "I'm a New Testament". Although Whitaker never specifically commented on the ability of non-Christian judges to serve, Whitaker's answer was subsequently interpreted by various individuals and groups, including the
Anti-Defamation League The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), formerly known as the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, is an international Jewish non-governmental organization based in the United States specializing in civil rights law. It was founded in late Septe ...
, to imply that he would disqualify non-Christian judges, and were condemned as unconstitutional. An ADL spokesperson said, "The notion that non-Christian judges are disqualified from service is patently wrong, and completely inconsistent with the U.S. Constitution, which explicitly bars any religious test for public office". Whitaker stated in 2013 he supports the right of states to nullify federal laws. Stephen Vladeck of University of Texas stated that Whitaker's views on nullification are "irreconcilable not only with the structure of the Constitution, but with its text, especially the text of the Supremacy Clause", and added that "For someone who holds those views to be the nation's chief law enforcement officer, even temporarily, is more than a little terrifying".


Criticisms of 2017 Special Counsel investigation

During the months prior to joining the Justice Department as Jeff Sessions' chief of staff in September 2017, Whitaker made several statements critical of the Mueller investigation, of which he assumed oversight responsibility upon being appointed Acting Attorney General in November 2018. By July 2017, the Trump White House was interviewing Whitaker to join the Trump legal team. During a six-month span in 2017, Whitaker insisted that there was no obstruction of justice or collusion and criticized the initial appointment of the special counsel. He also called the probe "political" and "the left is trying to sow this theory that essentially Russians interfered with the U.S. election, which has been proven false". He also published an op-ed titled, "Mueller's Investigation of Trump Is Going Too Far" in which he expressed skepticism about the investigation generally and called the appointment of Mueller "ridiculous". He also retweeted a link to an article that referred to the investigation as a "lynch mob".


Relationship with Donald Trump

Trump saw Whitaker's supportive commentaries on CNN in the summer of 2017, and in July White House counsel
Don McGahn Donald Francis McGahn II (; born June 16, 1968) is an American lawyer who served as White House Counsel for U.S. President Donald Trump, from the day of Trump's inauguration through October 17, 2018, when McGahn resigned. Previously, McGahn serv ...
interviewed Whitaker to join Trump's legal team as an "attack dog" against Robert Mueller, who was heading the Special Counsel investigation. Trump associates believe Whitaker was later hired to limit the fallout of the investigation, including by reining in any Mueller report and preventing Trump from being subpoenaed. On November 13, a DOJ spokesperson said that Whitaker would seek advice from ethics officials at the Department of Justice (DOJ) about whether a recusal from overseeing the Russia investigation was warranted. In 2017, '' Vox'' writer Murray Waas, reported that an unnamed administration source claimed that Whitaker provided private advice to Trump on how the White House might pressure the Justice Department "to name a special counsel to investigate not only allegations of FBI wrongdoing but also Hillary Clinton".
Leonard Leo Leonard A. Leo (born 1965) is an American lawyer and conservative legal activist. He was the longtime vice president of the Federalist Society and is currently, along with Steven G. Calabresi, the co-chairman of the organization's board of direc ...
of the Federalist Society recommended Whitaker to McGahn as chief of staff for Sessions, and Whitaker was installed into that role at the direction of the White House. An anonymous source claimed that Whitaker wanted to replace Sessions, without the latter's knowledge. By early September 2018, Whitaker was on the short list of President Trump's White House staff as the replacement for
Don McGahn Donald Francis McGahn II (; born June 16, 1968) is an American lawyer who served as White House Counsel for U.S. President Donald Trump, from the day of Trump's inauguration through October 17, 2018, when McGahn resigned. Previously, McGahn serv ...
as the White House Counsel. In September 2018, White House Chief of Staff
John F. Kelly John Francis Kelly (born May 11, 1950) is an American former political advisor and retired U.S. Marine Corps general who served as White House chief of staff for President Donald Trump from July 31, 2017, to January 2, 2019. He had previousl ...
referred to Whitaker as the White House's "eyes and ears" in the Justice Department, which the president considered himself at war with. Trump had spoken with Whitaker in September 2018 about potentially assuming Sessions's role as Attorney General, although it was not clear whether Whitaker would take over on an interim basis or be nominated in a more permanent capacity. At that time, '' The New York Times'' described Whitaker as a Trump loyalist who had frequently visited the
Oval Office The Oval Office is the formal working space of the President of the United States. Part of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, it is located in the West Wing of the White House, in Washington, D.C. The oval-shaped room ...
and as having "an easy chemistry" with Trump. Whitaker was referenced by White House staff after a New York Times article disclosed in September that Rod Rosenstein had discussed secretly taping his conversations with the president and talked about using the
Twenty-fifth Amendment The Twenty-fifth Amendment (Amendment XXV) to the United States Constitution deals with presidential succession and disability. It clarifies that the vice president becomes president if the president dies, resigns, or is removed from office, a ...
to remove Trump from office. Trump repeatedly stated on November 9, "I don't know Matt Whitaker", contradicting remarks a month prior on Fox & Friends when he said, "I can tell you Matt Whitaker's a great guy. I mean, I know Matt Whitaker". In October 2019, after leaving the White House, Whitaker defended Trump amid the impeachment investigation into his conduct as president. Whitaker said there was no evidence of a crime by the President, and that "abuse of power is not a crime" in the Constitution.


Other policy issues

Whitaker's website previously stated that he was a "Christian who regularly attends church with his family, Matt has built a life on hard work and free enterprise"; and he stated in 2014 that "life begins at conception". In 2014, he advocated for reducing the influence of the government saying, "I know that the government forcing people to violate their faith must never be tolerated. In the Senate, I will be a steadfast protector of every American's religious rights". Whitaker claimed he was not a "
climate change denier Climate change denial, or global warming denial, is denial, dismissal, or doubt that contradicts the scientific consensus on climate change, including the extent to which it is caused by humans, its effects on nature and human society, or the ...
" but said that the evidence is "inconclusive" and indicated he did not support regulations on carbon emissions. He has expressed a desire to get rid of family reunification and is against amnesty for illegal immigrants. In 2014, Whitaker represented a blogger who was fired from his job for describing homosexuality as "sinful." He argued the blogger had engaged in a legitimate expression of religious beliefs that should be considered protected speech, saying, "I just really think this case is a prime example of where religious freedom in our country is under assault and we need to send a strong message". Whitaker supported repealing the Affordable Care Act in his 2014 Senate campaign.


Electoral history


2002 Iowa State Treasurer


2014 U.S. Senator for Iowa


Writings

*


See also

*
Timeline of investigations into Trump and Russia (July–December 2018) The timeline of investigations into Donald Trump and Russia is split into the following pages: November 8, 2016–January 2017 * Timeline of post-election transition following Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections 2017 * Timel ...


References


External links


Department of Justice profileArchived official campaign site
Matthew Whitaker for Treasurer (2002) and U.S. Senate (2014) * * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Whitaker, Matthew 1969 births Iowa Hawkeyes football players Iowa lawyers Iowa Republicans Living people People from Ankeny, Iowa Political chiefs of staff Politicians from Des Moines, Iowa Trump administration cabinet members United States Attorneys for the Southern District of Iowa United States Attorneys General University of Iowa College of Law alumni