# Matt Whitaker Iowa Republican lawyer who went from a conservative "accountability" nonprofit and TV punditry to running the Justice Department while it oversaw the [[Mueller Investigation]], and then to representing the United States at [[NATO]]. He is a clean example of the loyalist appointment: chosen after publicly criticizing the investigation he would supervise. ## Career | Date | Role or event | |---|---| | 2004–2009 | U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa | | 2014–2017 | Executive director of FACT (Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust), a conservative ethics-watchdog group | | 2014–2017 | Sits on the advisory board of World Patent Marketing. In May 2018 the FTC obtained a judgment of about $26 million against the company and its founder for defrauding inventors; Whitaker was not a defendant | | Oct 2017 | Chief of staff to Attorney General [[Jeff Sessions]] | | Nov 7, 2018 | Becomes acting Attorney General when Trump forces Sessions out the day after the midterms — putting him over Mueller's investigation, which he had criticized as a TV commentator | | Feb 14, 2019 | Replaced by William Barr | | Nov 20, 2024 | Named Trump's nominee for ambassador to NATO | | Apr 1, 2025 | Confirmed **52–45** | | Sept 23, 2026 | Appears with NATO Secretary General [[Mark Rutte]] in Des Moines as U.S. ambassador | ## Why it matters here The acting-AG appointment was the move that tested whether Trump could put a critic of the Mueller probe in charge of it without Senate confirmation; he served three months. His current post sends a Mueller-era loyalist to the alliance whose value Trump disputes. See [[Department of Justice]] and [[Mueller Investigation]]. ## See Also - [[Jeff Sessions]] · [[Robert Mueller]] · [[Mueller Investigation]] - [[Department of Justice]] · [[NATO]] · [[Mark Rutte]]