Donald Trump nominated former Attorney General Matt Whitaker to be the United States ambassador to NATO Wednesday.
“Matt is a strong warrior and loyal Patriot who will ensure the United States’ interests are advanced and defended,” Trump wrote in a statement.
A staunch Trump loyalist, Whitaker served as the Department of Justice’s chief of staff before replacing Jeff Sessions as attorney general in 2018. There, he found himself in charge of Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Trump first took an interest in Whitaker after he distinguished himself as a major critic of the Mueller probe, insisting that there had been no collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, according to The New York Times. Trump specifically brought Whitaker in to serve as an attack dog against Mueller, and one presidential adviser told the Times that Whitaker had been sent there to minimize the investigation’s fallout. Whitaker ultimately resigned from the Justice Department in 2019.
Whitaker had already proven himself to be one hell of an aggressor as a federal prosecutor in Iowa. He sparked backlash after he brought a flimsy case against Matt McCoy, the first openly gay member of the Iowa legislature, in 2007. The evidence Whitaker’s team drummed up for “attempted extortion” was so weak the jury reportedly deliberated for just half an hour.
“Whitaker’s office clearly wanted to give the evangelical right within the Republican Party a trophy, and that trophy was me—one of the state’s most prominent young Democrats at the time,” McCoy wrote in Politico in 2018.
Clearly holding political ambitions, Whitaker went on to launch unsuccessful bids for Iowa Supreme Court in 2011 and the U.S. Senate in 2014. He also held an advisory board position at World Patent Marketing, a shady company that sold toilets for “well-endowed men” among other random things. The Federal Trade Commission ordered World Patent Marketing in 2018 to shut down its operations and pay a settlement of more than $25 million, after the company was determined to be a scam.
Whitaker also previously served as executive director of the Foundation for Accountability and Civil Trust, or FACT, a conservative watchdog that targeted Democratic leaders. Whitaker currently serves as a co-chair for the Center of Law & Justice at the America First Policy Institute, a right-wing think tank chaired by Linda McMahon, Trump’s unorthodox nominee for secretary of education.
Trump has remained skeptical about NATO and previously threatened to leave the alliance if European defense spending did not increase. In February, Trump encouraged Russia to do “whatever the hell they want” to any NATO country that was “delinquent” in its payments. That kind of attitude, plus the president-elect’s affinity for Russian President Vladimir Putin, means that Whitaker will likely act as an enforcer on behalf of a hostile Trump.
Proximity to sexual abuse and scandal increasingly looks like a prerequisite for joining Trump’s upcoming Cabinet. President-elect Donald Trump made yet another surprising pick on Tuesday, naming former World Wrestling Entertainment CEO Linda McMahon as his intended nominee for education secretary.
McMahon, along with her husband, Vince McMahon, helped turn the WWE into the pervasive entertainment product that has become intertwined with modern North American culture. Trump was a good friend to the McMahons during this time, even getting in the ring for the “Battle of the Billionaires” in 2007.
Linda McMahon stepped down from WWE in 2009 and launched herself in conservative politics, serving on the Connecticut State Board of Education and running two unsuccessful campaigns for Senate in 2010 and 2012. She then became a Republican megadonor, and was rewarded with an administrator position at the Small Business Administration in Trump’s first-term Cabinet. On Tuesday, she was rewarded once again.
“Linda will use her decades of Leadership experience, and deep understanding of both Education and Business, to empower the next Generation of American Students and Workers, and make America Number One in Education in the World,” Trump wrote in a statement. “We will send Education BACK TO THE STATES, and Linda will spearhead that effort.”
But much like Trump Cabinet picks Pete Hegseth and Matt Gaetz, McMahon has troubling skeletons in her closet. The WWE has long been known for its highly questionable, borderline abusive work environment.
Linda McMahon and Vince McMahon—from whom she is now reportedly separated—are being sued by five anonymous plaintiffs who served as “ring boys,” essentially teenage stagehands. The ring boys allege that they were being sexually abused by WWE wrestlers Pat Patterson and Terry Garvin. The suit states that both Linda and Vince knew exactly what was happening to the ring boys but did little, if anything, to stop it. Vince faces even more damaging allegations of sexual assault, trafficking, and more. And although these are separate from Linda, almost all of these accusations date from when Linda was leading the WWE. Trump has yet to comment on the allegations.
Linda McMahon also falsely claimed in 2009 on a candidate questionnaire for the Connecticut Board of Education that she had a bachelor’s degree in education, when she only has a certificate. Per The Washington Post’s recap of the incident, she resigned from the board as soon as she heard that local journalists intended to make her error public, but claimed the timing of her resignation was merely coincidental.
If confirmed as education secretary, McMahon will be charged with carrying out Trump’s........