News

The Guy Replacing Jeff Sessions Has A Lot Of Interesting Tweets — Cat Memes Included

by Caroline Burke
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images News/Getty Images

Just hours after the 2018 midterm elections wrapped up, POTUS made a stunning announcement on Wednesday: the Attorney General was resigning. Jeff Sessions' temporary replacement Matt Whitaker has generated concern over his newfound takeover of Robert Mueller's Russia investigation, as he has criticized the probe in the past. But it's not just Whitaker's bias of the Russia probe that has people scratching their heads — he also has had a pretty robust Twitter presence throughout the last several years.

A majority of the tweets on Whitaker's official account are related to the University of Iowa, of which he is an alum. Still others are more bizarre, such as his tweet about his new law firm finally getting Wi-Fi so that he didn't "need to hijack Taco John's free wi fi [sic] any more." In yet another tweet, Whitaker asserted that Dave Matthews is "the Jimmy Buffett of our time." And in perhaps the most surprising tweet yet, Whitaker tweeted out a series of cat memes to illustrate hurricane intensity, as seen below.

But other tweets from Whitaker seem to have been more politically charged, though it's unclear whether he was writing in jest or sincerely. In one August 2017 tweet, Whitaker wrote, "Is the #Borderwall going to be similar to #thewall on #GoT ? If so, where is #eastwatch ?"

Unsurprisingly, Whitaker is a staunch conservative who has run for elected office three times as a Republican: First, he ran for state treasurer of Iowa in 2002 (unsuccessfully), then he ran for U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Iowa in 2004 (successfully), and then lastly, he ran for a Senate seat in Iowa in 2013 (unsuccessfully; he placed fourth in the Republican primary).

During his Senate run, Whitaker told an Iowan radio station that he sought to emulate staunch conservative senators like Ted Cruz and Rand Paul.

Whitaker also claimed at a Republican forum during his Senate run that he didn't trust judges who didn't believe in an afterlife. Specifically, Whitaker explained that when selecting a federal judge, he would want to know that they have a "Biblical view of justice."

"As long as they have that world view," he said, "they'll be a good judge. If they have a secular world view, where this is all we have here on earth, then I'm going to be very concerned with how they judge."

Immediately following Trump's announcements on Whitaker becoming the interim attorney general, several notable lawmakers gave public statements condemning Whitaker's role. In a tweet, Nancy Pelosi called the decision a "blatant attempt by [Trump] to undermine" Mueller's investigation, and Chuck Schumer tweeted that Trump "clearly ... has something to hide."

As acting attorney general, Whitaker will now have full oversight of Mueller's Russia investigation, until Trump finds a permanent replacement for the role. He will additionally function as the head of the Department of Justice, and will also technically be the chief lawyer for the United States government.