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Former Iowan Matt Whitaker, who was acting attorney general in President Donald Trump’s first term, told lawmakers Tuesday he’s confident allies will do more to support the NATO alliance.
Whitaker, who was introduced for his confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as Trump’s NATO ambassador by U.S. Sens. Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, spoke more positively of NATO than have Trump and ally Elon Musk — who have questioned the value of the alliance to the United States.
Whitaker told senators a big part of his job would be ensuring each NATO ally reaches Trump’s call to invest the equivalent of at least 5 percent of its gross domestic product in their militaries.
“I have no concern that our European allies and Canada can do more and want to do more,” Whitaker said. “I fully expect they will do what’s necessary to continue to make NATO the strongest alliance ever in the history of the planet.”
Whitaker attended the University of Iowa, where he earned an MBA and a law degree and played on the Iowa Hawkeye football team. In 1990, he was a tight end on the Hawkeye team that went to the Rose Bowl. He served as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa from 2004 to 2009.
