President-elect Donald Trump said Wednesday he would nominate Matthew Whitaker, who was briefly the top U.S. law enforcement official in his first administration, to be ambassador to NATO, a diplomatic post that could see its profile raised next year as alliance members brace themselves for how Trump might try to end to war in Ukraine.
Whitaker, a longtime Trump loyalist, doesn’t have diplomatic experience. His national security experience primarily stems from his time as acting attorney general, a position he held for three months after the November 2018 midterm elections until Attorney General William Barr was confirmed. He left shortly thereafter.
“Matt is a strong warrior and loyal Patriot, who will ensure the United States’ interests are advanced and defended,” Trump said in a statement. “Matt will strengthen relationships with our NATO Allies, and stand firm in the face of threats to Peace and Stability – He will put AMERICA FIRST.”
Trump’s emphasis on Whitaker as an ‘America First’ appointment may cause heartburn among Western military allies who are bracing for potentially rough treatment from the former and future president and his appointees. Trump ridiculed and threatened not to come to the aid of NATO members during his first term if he thought they weren’t spending enough on defense.
The Senate Republican majority in the 119th Congress is expected to confirm Whitaker.
Congress enacted a law in 2023 that included a provision prohibiting a U.S. president from unilaterally withdrawing from NATO absent an affirmative vote from two-thirds of the Senate or passage of an act of Congress.
Senate Intelligence Vice Chairman Marco Rubio, R-Fla., co-authored the provision. Rubio is now Trump’s choice to be secretary of State and is also expected to be confirmed. He would oversee Whitaker’s work.
Whitaker drew intense scrutiny from Democrats during the first Trump administration when Trump named him acting attorney general after he forced then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions to resign after the 2018 midterms. Whitaker had been Sessions’ chief of staff, a position that did not require Senate confirmation.
Democrats also objected to Whitaker directly overseeing the investigation by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, given his previous disparagement of the probe as a “witch hunt” and his stated disbelief that the Trump campaign had colluded with Moscow.
“We have followed the special counsel’s regulations to a tee. There has been no event, no decision, that has required me to take any action, and I have not interfered in any way with the special counsel’s investigation,” Whitaker said during an appearance in early 2019 before the House Judiciary Committee.
Former Trump chief of staff John F. Kelly reportedly called Whitaker the White House’s “eyes and ears” at the Justice Department during a particularly tense period in its relations with the White House.
Prior to joining the first Trump administration, Whitaker was a U.S. attorney in Iowa. He unsuccessfully sought Iowa Republicans’ nomination for a Senate seat in 2014, and subsequently started a conservative advocacy organization, the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust.
He has appeared on Fox News often to discuss legal matters, using the appearances to strongly defend Trump in the legal cases brought against him, and to accuse President Joe Biden of planning to pardon his son Hunter after his conviction on federal tax charges and to castigate the Justice Department and FBI for their efforts to highlight and thwart Russian government-sponsored efforts to influence voters in the 2024 U.S. elections.
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