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.
Jeff SessionsPreceded byLoretta LynchSucceeded byWilliam BarrUnited States Senator from AlabamaIn office January 3, 1997 – February 8, 201733 more rows
Merrick GarlandThe current attorney general is Merrick Garland....List of U.S. attorneys general.Attorney GeneralYears of serviceMerrick Garland2021-PresentJanet Reno1993-2001William Pelham Barr1991-1993Richard Lewis Thornburgh1988-199182 more rows
Jeffrey A. RosenPreceded byWilliam BarrSucceeded byMonty Wilkinson (acting)38th United States Deputy Attorney GeneralIn office May 22, 2019 – December 23, 202027 more rows
Matthew WhitakerIn office November 7, 2018 – February 14, 2019PresidentDonald TrumpDeputyRod RosensteinPreceded byJeff Sessions22 more rows
Attorney General is a Level I position in the Executive Schedule, thus earning a salary of US$221,400, as of January 2021.
California Former Attorneys GeneralMatthew Rodriguez2021 – 2021Kamala D. Harris2010 – 2017Edmund G. Brown, Jr.2007 – 2011Bill Lockyer1999 – 2007Daniel E. Lungren1991 – 199929 more rows
Attorney General GarlandMeet the Attorney General As the nation's chief law enforcement officer, Attorney General Garland leads the Justice Department's 115,000 employees, who work across the United States and in more than 50 countries worldwide.
The principal duties of the Attorney General are to: Represent the United States in legal matters. Supervise and direct the administration and operation of the offices, boards, divisions, and bureaus that comprise the Department.
He can be removed by the President at any time. He can quit by submitting his resignation only to the President. Since he is appointed by the President on the advice of the Council of Ministers, conventionally he is removed when the council is dissolved or replaced.
Debate Summary. (1) The President shall appoint a person, who is qualified to be appointed a judge of the Supreme Court, to be Attorney-General for India.
between $6 million and $23 millionGarland is a resident of Bethesda, Maryland. Financial disclosure forms in 2016 indicated that Garland's net worth at the time was between $6 million and $23 million. Garland is partially colorblind, so he uses a list to match his suits and ties.
Donald B. AyerWilliam Pelham Barr (born May 23, 1950) is an American attorney who served as the 77th and 85th United States attorney general in the administrations of Presidents George H. W. Bush and Donald Trump....William BarrPresidentGeorge H. W. BushPreceded byDonald B. AyerSucceeded byGeorge J. Terwilliger III31 more rows
Pete Sessions is not related to former Senator and Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
76 years (June 14, 1946)Donald Trump / Age
5′ 5″Jeff Sessions / Height
Matthew Whitaker took over as acting attorney general after Jeff Sessions announced his resignation from the position on Nov. 7 — hours after a handful of Election Day races rocked the country.
In December, Justice Department ethics officials cleared Whitaker to oversee the Russia investigation, a source told Fox News.
Whitaker previously suggested Trump could possibly fire Sessions over his disappointment in the attorney general for recusing himself from Russia probe.
Whitaker is proud to be from Iowa, and has deep ties to the state — both personally and professionally.
Whitaker is a "respected Republican," according to the Register. He has worn many hats throughout his political career, including serving as co-chairman for former Texas Gov. Rick Perry's 2012 presidential campaign, the newspaper reports. He was also executive director of Washington, D.C.-based Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust, a non-profit dedicated to ethics and transparency in government, for roughly three years.
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."
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.
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.
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.