President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday named former acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker as his pick for the next ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a key alliance that Trump has derided for years.
“Matt is a strong fighter and loyal patriot who will ensure that the interests of the United States are advanced and defended. Matt will strengthen relationships with our NATO allies and remain steadfast in the face of threats to peace and stability – he will put AMERICA FIRST,” Trump said in a statement.
Whitaker does not appear to have much foreign policy experience in his professional background.
Whitaker first took over the Justice Department on an acting basis during Trump’s first term in November 2018, right after the midterm elections, when Trump announced on Twitter that Whitaker would succeed Jeff Sessions, who asked Trump to resign. He held the position for only three months until Bill Barr was confirmed as attorney general.
Before becoming acting attorney general, Whitaker served as Sessions’ chief of staff when he was attorney general. From 2004 to 2009, he was the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa, appointed by President George W. Bush.
He co-chaired the Center of Law & Justice at the nonprofit Trump think tank America First Policy Institute.
Trump has long criticized NATO, accusing European allies of not contributing enough to defense spending. He suggested at a campaign rally in February that he would allow Russia to “do whatever they want” to countries that don’t pay the “bills.”
When he first ran for president in 2016, Trump called NATO “outdated.” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said earlier this year that in 2020, before leaving office, Trump told top European officials that the US would not help Europe if it were attacked.
In February, Hillary Clinton warned that Trump would try to withdraw the US from NATO if re-elected. Vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance, who has criticized U.S. financing of Ukraine in its war with Russia, told NBC News days before this year’s election that a second Trump administration would “stay in NATO.”
Trump has repeatedly said that when it comes to Russia’s war in Ukraine, as president he would negotiate a deal “that is good for both sides.”
Whitaker, meanwhile, has made a number of public statements showing his support for the alliance and Ukraine.
In a 2019 interview on Fox News, Whitaker was asked how dangerous it would be if the US said it would only contribute as much as other countries to NATO.
“We are the world’s superpower, and the only superpower,” he said. “I think we will always have to spend more than our fair share to ensure that democracy and freedom are defended worldwide. But at the same time, that doesn’t mean that the people that we’re connected with are to, you know, kind of ride on our coattails.
Speaking to Fox Business in 2022, after Russia’s war in Ukraine began, Whitaker said: “There’s no doubt that NATO is now in the line of fire and people like Poland are feeling the pressure as they supply Ukrainian fighters.”
“Poland is next on the list, I’m sure, for Putin. “If the war in Ukraine doesn’t end, it will – it’s already on NATO’s doorstep,” said Whitaker, who voiced support for US shipping. weapons to Ukraine.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
