Former acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker is gone from the Justice Department after briefly staying on in an advisory role after his full-time replacement took office.
Whitaker departed the department on Saturday, NBC News reported. He served as acting attorney general for a bit over three months, before the Senate confirmation of now-Attorney General William Barr on Feb. 14. Whitaker since then served as a senior counselor at the department.
Democrats have criticized the Whitaker appointments from the start. Democratic lawmakers have suggested he could have effectively acted as a mole to the Trump administration, providing information to President Trump and his advisers about the ongoing probe by special counsel Robert Mueller into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential race, and related matters.
Whitaker became acting attorney general in November after serving for more than a year as chief of staff to Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Trump ousted Sessions shortly after the 2018 midterm elections, accusing him of insufficient loyalty. Trump had long hounded the former Alabama senator for recusing himself from the Russia investigation.
Whitaker has told friends that he intends to stay in Washington, citing the “many opportunities” in the city. Whitaker previously served as U.S. attorney in Iowa for five-and-a-half years during former President George W. Bush’s administration.
