Washington (AP)Former acting attorney general Matthew Whitaker has been appointed by Donald Trump as the United States ambassador to NATO, a position that the president-elect has frequently enjoyed disparaging.
Despite having a background in criminal justice and law rather than national security and foreign policy, Whitaker is well-positioned to assume a significant role in U.S. international affairs.
This is particularly important in light of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and Trump’s earlier this year assertion that, once in office, he had told allies of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization that he would enable Russia to do whatever the hell it wants to delinquent nations. That was one aspect of Trump’s ongoing, outspoken criticism of overseas assistance and established partnerships.
The following information relates to Whitaker:
He served as acting attorney general for a short time.
Shortly after Republicans lost the 2018 midterm elections and Trump fired then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Whitaker was promoted to acting attorney general in November of that year. Sessions’ decision to recuse himself during Special Counsel Robert Muller’s probe into connections between Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and Russia was never forgiven by Trump.
While Mueller’s probe was coming to a close, Whitaker, Sessions’ chief of staff, was acting attorney general for a crucial three months. Two days after appointing Matt Whitaker, Trump told reporters, “I don’t know Matt Whitaker,” yet he still got the job.
Before becoming attorney general, Whitaker, a staunch Trump supporter, has blasted the Mueller probe. Democrats, who were concerned that he would take action to obstruct the Russia investigation, confronted him during a heated House session. Even while Whitaker said that he had no plans to do so, senators questioned him about his alleged lack of expertise as the country’s top law enforcement official.
We’re all trying to understand how you got to be the head of the Department of Justice, who you are, and where you’re from. One of the senior Democrats in the House, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, spoke at one point.
Whitaker opened his mouth to reply, but Jeffries cut him off, saying, “Mr. Whitaker, that was a statement, not a question.”
In the wake of Trump’s election-day victory, Whitaker has been an outspoken opponent of the federal criminal charges against him. Whitaker has joined other Republicans in criticizing what they believe to be the politicization of the Justice Department over the last four years through frequent appearances on Fox News.
He has experience in law enforcement and the legal field.
When the University of Iowa Hawkeyes lost the 1991 Rose Bowl, Whitaker, a former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of his home state of Iowa, was a standout football player in high school and started at tight end. Trump said that Whitaker had previously been awarded the Big Ten Medal of Honor when he announced his selection.
Many people in U.S. security circles are still unaware of Whitaker because of all of that. As the direct representative of U.S. presidents in Western military alliance decision-making, retired Gen. Philip Breedlove, a former supreme allied commander of NATO, described the role of the U.S. ambassador to NATO as extremely important within the U.S. and NATO security framework.
In the end, they are perceived as having the president’s legitimacy when they speak, Breedlove stated.
American ambassadors to NATO frequently have a wealth of military or national security expertise. Former Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, Trump’s first-term NATO ambassador, did not, despite her involvement in foreign policy matters in Congress.
According to Breedlove, being perceived as having a direct route to the US president was more important for the position than having a security background.
They must be perceived as truly embodying the president’s intentions. The most crucial thing in that role is to have the president’s trust and confidence.
He was involved in a Florida company fined for biked customers
Whitaker was part of the advisory board ofWorld Patent Marketing, a Florida company that a federal judge shut down in 2017 and fined almost $26 million after the Federal Trade Commission accused it in a complaint of swindling thousands of consumers out of millions of dollars.
Separately, the company drew scrutiny from Democrats for having once promoted the Masculine Toilet, billed as a commode built for men with especially long genitals.
Whitaker also repeatedly chided Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in public statements during her 2016 run against Trump while he was speaking for a group that is barred by its tax-exempt status from supporting or opposing political candidates during a campaign.
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Associated Press writers Ellen Knickmeyer and Eric Tucker contributed to this report.
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