President Trump today fired Attorney General Jeff Sessions and announced that he had appointed NAFUSA life member Matthew G. Whitaker as the Acting Attorney General. Whitaker has been serving as the chief of staff to Jeff Sessions since October, 2017. Whitaker assumes oversight of the Mueller investigation from DAG Rod Rosenstein. In August 17, 2017, Whitaker wrote an opinion column for CNN where he questioned the scope of the Mueller Russia inquiry. Mueller’s investigation of Trump is going too far (opinion) -CNN

Whitaker served as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa, 2004-2009 during the George W. Bush administration. He played college football for the Iowa Hawkeyes, earning Academic All-American honors in 1992. He was the tight end on the 1990 Big Ten Champion football team and played in the 1991 Rose Bowl game. He is a graduate of the University of Iowa College of Law.

Whitaker becomes the fifth former U.S. Attorney in a row to serve as the Attorney General, either as the presidentially-appointed person or in the acting capacity (Eric Holder, Loretta Lynch, Sally Yates, Jeff Sessions, and Matt Whitaker).