Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker criticized Trump in interviews as 'unlikable,' 'self-serving,' and 'dangerous'
President Trump has called Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker "a great guy," but the feeling apparently wasn't always mutual.
The Washington Post reviewed hundreds of interviews with Whitaker that were conducted before he was named as successor to former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and found that during the 2016 election he called both Trump and Hillary Clinton "unlikable."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The report points out that Whitaker's criticism continued up until shortly before he joined the Justice Department. In September 2017, he said that Trump's response to the violence in Charlottesville was "woefully inadequate" and that he needed to reject "white supremacists and alt-right groups."
With these past comments, Whitaker joins a long line of Trump officials who criticized him before joining his administration: White House counselor Kellyanne Conway once said Trump "built a lot of his business on the backs of the little guy," U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley said he represented everything she "doesn't want in a president," and Energy Secretary Rick Perry said his "toxic mix of demagoguery, mean-spiritedness and nonsense" would destroy the Republican Party.
-
‘No Other Choice,’ ‘Dead Man’s Wire,’ and ‘Father Mother Sister Brother’Feature A victim of downsizing turns murderous, an angry Indiana man takes a lender hostage, and a portrait of family by way of three awkward gatherings
-
Political cartoons for January 11Cartoons Sunday’s political cartoons include green energy, a simple plan, and more
-
The launch of the world’s first weight-loss pillSpeed Read Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly have been racing to release the first GLP-1 pill
-
The billionaires’ wealth tax: a catastrophe for California?Talking Point Peter Thiel and Larry Page preparing to change state residency
-
Hegseth moves to demote Sen. Kelly over videospeed read Retired Navy fighter pilot Mark Kelly appeared in a video reminding military service members that they can ‘refuse illegal orders’
-
Trump says US ‘in charge’ of Venezuela after Maduro grabSpeed Read The American president claims the US will ‘run’ Venezuela for an unspecified amount of time, contradicting a statement from Secretary of State Marco Rubio
-
Bari Weiss’ ‘60 Minutes’ scandal is about more than one reportIN THE SPOTLIGHT By blocking an approved segment on a controversial prison holding US deportees in El Salvador, the editor-in-chief of CBS News has become the main story
-
CBS pulls ‘60 Minutes’ report on Trump deporteesSpeed Read An investigation into the deportations of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador’s notorious prison was scrapped
-
Trump administration posts sliver of Epstein filesSpeed Read Many of the Justice Department documents were heavily redacted, though new photos of both Donald Trump and Bill Clinton emerged
-
Trump HHS moves to end care for trans youthSpeed Read The administration is making sweeping proposals that would eliminate gender-affirming care for Americans under age 18
-
Jack Smith tells House of ‘proof’ of Trump’s crimesSpeed Read President Donald Trump ‘engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election,’ hoarded classified documents and ‘repeatedly tried to obstruct justice’
