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.
We've received your submission. Ex-acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker quietly left the Justice Department over the weekend, according to multiple reports. Whitaker’s abrupt departure came Saturday, days after new AG William Barr was sworn in, NBC News and others reported.
"Whitaker May Be a Bad Choice, but He's a Legal One". The New York Times. Retrieved November 9, 2018. ^ Katyal, Neal K., and Conway III, George T. (November 8, 2018). "Trump's Appointment of the Acting Attorney General Is Unconstitutional". The New York Times. Retrieved November 9, 2018. ^ Rudalevige, Andrew (November 10, 2018).
"Trump's Appointment of the Acting Attorney General Is Unconstitutional". The New York Times. Retrieved November 9, 2018. ^ Rudalevige, Andrew (November 10, 2018). "No one is surprised that Jeff Sessions is out. But is his replacement's appointment unconstitutional?". The Washington Post. Retrieved November 10, 2018.
Merrick GarlandUnited States Attorney GeneralIncumbent Merrick Garland since March 11, 2021United States Department of JusticeStyleMr. Attorney General (informal) The Honorable (formal)Member ofCabinet National Security Council13 more rows
Marci WhitakerMatthew Whitaker / Wife
Matthew WhitakerPresidentDonald TrumpDeputyRod RosensteinPreceded byJeff SessionsSucceeded byWilliam Barr22 more rows
Attorney General Rob BontaClick for high-resolution photo. On April 23, 2021, Rob Bonta was sworn in as the 34th Attorney General of the State of California, the first person of Filipino descent and the second Asian-American to occupy the position.
Jeffrey A. RosenPreceded byWilliam BarrSucceeded byMonty Wilkinson (acting)38th United States Deputy Attorney GeneralIn office May 22, 2019 – December 23, 202027 more rows
21 years (April 3, 2001)Matthew Whitaker / Age
The PresidentThe President shall appoint, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, an Attorney General of the United States. The Attorney General is the head of the Department of Justice. (Added Pub. L.
U.S. Department of JusticeDepartment of JusticeSecretary:Merrick GarlandYear created:1789Official website:Justice.gov1 more row
Abiola Miles -Abiola Miles - Deputy Attorney General - New Jersey Office of the Attorney General - Division of Law | LinkedIn.
Before his political career, Whitaker attended the University of Iowa for college, business school and law school. He was also an accomplished member of the Hawkeyes football team, and played in the 1991 Rose Bowl.
President Trump announced Wednesday that Jeff Sessions had resigned as attorney general and will be replaced by Matthew Whitaker, who had been Sessions' chief of staff at the Justice Department. Whitaker will also replace Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in overseeing special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Whitaker was hired by Sessions to be his chief of staff in September 2017. The month before, he wrote an opinion article for CNN criticizing Mueller. "It is time for Rosenstein, who is the acting attorney general for the purposes of this investigation, to order Mueller to limit the scope of his investigation to the four corners of the order appointing him special counsel."
In 2016, Whitaker wrote an article for USA Today arguing that the Justice Department should indict Hillary Clinton.
Mr. Trump added that a "permanent replacement" for Sessions "will be nominated at a later date." Sessions resigned at Mr. Trump's request.
Trump saw Whitaker's supportive commentaries on CNN in the summer of 2017, and in July White House counsel Don McGahn 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.
After graduating from law school, Whitaker lived in Minneapolis, Minnesota from 1995 to 2001, before moving back to Iowa.
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 [himself] based on statements in the news media."
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 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.
Whitaker argued in 2014 that a blogger fired from his job for describing homosexuality as "sinful" 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.
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.
While attending the University of Iowa, Whitaker played tight end for the University of Iowa Hawkeyes football team, including in the 1991 Rose Bowl . In 2002, Whitaker was the candidate of the Republican Party for Treasurer of Iowa.
Mr. Whitaker graduated with a Master of Business Administration, Juris Doctor, and Bachelor of Arts from the University of Iowa.
January 16, 2019. Acting Attorney General Matthew G. Whitaker Delivers Remarks at the Heritage Foundation to Commemorate 25th Anniversary of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. December 21, 2018. Acting Attorney General Whitaker Delivers Remarks on the 30th Anniversary of the Pan American Flight 103 Bombing.
Matthew G. Whitaker served as Acting Attorney General from November 2018 to February 2019. Prior to becoming Acting Attorney General, Mr. Whitaker served as Chief of Staff to Attorney General Jeff Sessions. He was appointed as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa on June 15, 2004 by President George W. Bush.
Whitaker collected more than $1.2 million as the leader of the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT), a group that described itself as a charitable nonprofit dedicated to “promoting accountability, ethics, and transparency in government and civic arenas,” though it largely worked to promote conservative causes.
On Wednesday, the political watchdog group American Oversight called on the Office of Special Counsel to investigate Whitaker for possible violations of the Hatch Act, which restricts political activities by federal employees.
In a conflict of interest that’s most certainly not lost on Trump, Whitaker has been openly critical of Mueller’s investigation into the Trump campaign ― an investigation he now oversees until Trump taps a permanent replacement.
Matthew Whitaker, the former acting attorney general whose brief appointment generated intense controversy, resigned from the Justice Department over the weekend.
Whitaker gained fame as a football player at the University of Iowa. He earned a law degree from the same university and served as one of the state’s two U.S. attorneys in the Bush administration. He came to the attention of the Trump administration in 2017 as a commentator on television and radio who was critical of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation into the Kremlin’s meddling in the 2016 presidential campaign.
Whitaker rejected the advice of a top career Justice Department lawyer who recommended he recuse himself from overseeing the Russia probe because of the appearance of a conflict of interest related to his past statements.
Whitaker, a former U.S. attorney in Iowa, was chief-of-staff to Jeff Sessions, President Trump’s first attorney general. Trump and Sessions had a notoriously frosty relationship after the attorney general recused himself from overseeing the federal investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 campaign.
Del Quentin Wilber is an enterprise and investigative reporter in the Los Angeles Times’ Washington bureau, focusing on criminal justice and national security matters.
At a news conference in January, Whitaker disclosed he had been fully briefed on Mueller’s investigation and that it was nearing a conclusion.
Nadler said that, at that point, he expects “clean answers or proper assertion of privilege claimed by the president.”
Nadler pressed Whitaker over whether he had shared information about the investigation with Trump, or any White House officials.
While the answer, eventually, was that he had not, the congresswoman object ed when Whitaker would not answer with a requested “yes or no.” When she asked the chairman if her time had been restored, Whitaker snarked back: “I don’t know whether your time’s been restored or not.”
Nadler made clear early Thursday that he did not want to have to subpoena Whitaker, but said a “series of troubling events” suggested it would be better for him to be prepared with that authority, just in case he decided not to show up for the hearing.
The retort came after Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., first said he wanted Whitaker to appear for a private deposition after the hearing and went on to ask Whitaker whether he had been “asked to approve any requests or action” for the special counsel.
Whitaker told reporters last week that Mueller’s probe was “close to being completed,” the first official sign that the investigation may be nearing an end. His comments, though, were a departure for the Justice Department, which rarely comments on the status of investigations. Whitaker, though, said he had been “fully briefed” on the probe.
Whitaker accepted the assurances and testified Friday.