FILE - In this Feb. 8, 2019 file photo , then Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker speaks during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. Whitaker has left the Justice Department. Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec says Whitaker’s last day was Saturday. His future plans were not immediately clear. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

FILE - In this Feb. 8, 2019 file photo , then Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker speaks during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. Whitaker has left the Justice Department. Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec says Whitaker’s last day was Saturday. His future plans were not immediately clear. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker has left the Justice Department.

Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec says Whitaker’s last day was Saturday.

Whitaker was replaced last month when William Barr was confirmed as attorney general. He became a counselor in the associate attorney general’s office.

Whitaker was elevated to acting attorney general in November after President Donald Trump ousted then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Whitaker was chief of staff to Sessions, who angered the Republican president by recusing himself from the Russia investigation.

Democrats criticized Whitaker for past negative comments about the special counsel’s Russia probe.

The House Judiciary Committee’s chairman said Whitaker didn’t offer clear responses about his communications with the White House when he testified last month. Whitaker agreed to return to clarify his testimony.

The Los Angeles Times first reported Whitaker’s departure.</s>Former acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker has left the Justice Department.

Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec says Whitaker's last day was Saturday.

Whitaker was replaced last month when William Barr was confirmed as attorney general. He became a counselor in the associate attorney general's office.

Whitaker was elevated to acting attorney general in November after President Donald Trump ousted then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Whitaker was chief of staff to Sessions, who angered the Republican president by recusing himself from the Russia investigation.

Democrats criticized Whitaker for past negative comments about the special counsel's Russia probe.

The House Judiciary Committee's chairman said Whitaker didn't offer clear responses about his communications with the White House when he testified last month. Whitaker agreed to return to clarify his testimony.</s>Former acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker has left the Justice Department.

Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec says Whitaker's last day was Saturday.

Whitaker was replaced last month when William Barr was confirmed as attorney general. He became a counselor in the associate attorney general's office.

Whitaker was elevated to acting attorney general in November after President Donald Trump ousted then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Whitaker was chief of staff to Sessions, who angered the Republican president by recusing himself from the Russia investigation.

Democrats criticized Whitaker for past negative comments about the special counsel's Russia probe.

The House Judiciary Committee's chairman said Whitaker didn't offer clear responses about his communications with the White House when he testified last month. Whitaker agreed to return to clarify his testimony.</s>WASHINGTON (AP) — Former acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker has left the Justice Department.

Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec says Whitaker's last day was Saturday.

Whitaker was replaced last month when William Barr was confirmed as attorney general. He became a counselor in the associate attorney general's office.

Whitaker was elevated to acting attorney general in November after President Donald Trump ousted then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Whitaker was chief of staff to Sessions, who angered the Republican president by recusing himself from the Russia investigation.

Democrats criticized Whitaker for past negative comments about the special counsel's Russia probe.

The House Judiciary Committee's chairman said Whitaker didn't offer clear responses about his communications with the White House when he testified last month. Whitaker agreed to return to clarify his testimony.</s>Former acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker has left the Justice Department, a spokesperson confirmed on Monday.

According to Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec, Whitaker's last day was on Saturday. It is not clear what his next career move will be.

Whitaker was previously Jeff Sessions' chief of staff, and was appointed acting Attorney General in November after President Trump ousted Sessions in apparent response to Sessions recusing himself from the Russia investigation. Whitaker was removed from his post on February 14, when William Barr was sworn in as Attorney General .

WHO IS MATTHEW WHITAKER? 3 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THE ACTING ATTORNEY GENERAL

Following his removal, Whitaker became a counselor with the associate attorney general's office.

Whitaker, a former Iowa state attorney with the Bush administration, reportedly drew President Trump's attention for his criticism of the Mueller investigation while appearing on television and radio as a political commentator.

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Whitaker was criticized by Democrats during his time as acting Attorney General over his testimony to the House Judiciary Committee, who claimed that his responses were intentionally unclear. Whitaker agreed to return to the House Judiciary Committee to further clarify his testimony, which was deemed as "unsatisfactory, incomplete or contradicted" by Charman Jerrold Nadler.</s>WASHINGTON — Former acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker has left the Justice Department.

Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec says Whitaker's last day was Saturday.

Whitaker was replaced last month when William Barr was confirmed as attorney general. He became a counselor in the associate attorney general's office.

Whitaker, a native Iowan, was elevated to acting attorney general in November after President Donald Trump ousted then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Whitaker was chief of staff to Sessions, who angered the Republican president by recusing himself from the Russia investigation.

Democrats criticized Whitaker for past negative comments about the special counsel's Russia probe.

The House Judiciary Committee's chairman said Whitaker didn't offer clear responses about his communications with the White House when he testified last month. Whitaker agreed to return to clarify his testimony.</s>Former acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker has left the Justice Department, a spokesperson confirmed on Monday.

According to Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec, Whitaker's last day was on Saturday. It is not clear what his next career move will be.

Whitaker was previously Jeff Sessions' chief of staff, and was appointed acting Attorney General in November after President Trump ousted Sessions in apparent response to Sessions recusing himself from the Russia investigation. Whitaker was removed from his post on February 14, when William Barr was sworn in as Attorney General .

WHO IS MATTHEW WHITAKER? 3 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THE ACTING ATTORNEY GENERAL

Following his removal, Whitaker became a counselor with the associate attorney general's office.

Whitaker, a former Iowa state attorney with the Bush administration, reportedly drew President Trump's attention for his criticism of the Mueller investigation while appearing on television and radio as a political commentator.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Whitaker was criticized by Democrats during his time as acting Attorney General over his testimony to the House Judiciary Committee, who claimed that his responses were intentionally unclear. Whitaker agreed to return to the House Judiciary Committee to further clarify his testimony, which was deemed as "unsatisfactory, incomplete or contradicted" by Charman Jerrold Nadler.</s>WASHINGTON – Matthew Whitaker, whose brief tenure as acting U.S. attorney general was marred by accusations that he might try to interfere in a probe of President Donald Trump’s campaign, left his Justice Department job over the weekend, a department spokeswoman confirmed on Monday.

Whitaker’s last day at the department was on Saturday, the spokeswoman said, adding she did not know where he might be headed next.

In mid-February, Attorney General William Barr was sworn in and Whitaker stepped down from the top post to become a senior counselor in the office of the associate attorney general.

In one of his final acts as acting attorney general, Whitaker testified before the House Judiciary Committee where combative Democratic lawmakers pressed him on whether he had tried to interfere with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into whether Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia.

Whitaker denied any interference and said he had not talked to Trump about the probe. Trump has denied colluding with Russia, and has repeatedly called Mueller’s investigation a “witch hunt.”

Whitaker first joined the Justice Department as former Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ chief of staff in the fall of 2017. Trump hand-picked him as acting attorney general in November after the president fired Sessions.

Whitaker’s appointment alarmed Democrats, who pointed to numerous negative comments that he had made about the probe during his previous work as a conservative political pundit.

Those concerns were exacerbated after the Justice Department revealed its career ethics lawyers had recommended that Whitaker recuse himself from the probe to avoid the appearance of a conflict, but that he declined to do so.

The Justice Department also separately faced a backlash in the form of multiple lawsuits alleging Whitaker’s appointment violated the U.S. Constitution and the federal law governing succession at the department.

None of the plaintiffs who challenged Whitaker’s appointment prevailed, and the issue has since been mooted with Barr’s Senate confirmation.

Although Whitaker is no longer with the Justice Department, he could still find himself in the spotlight.

Following his contentious House testimony last month, Democrats have raised questions about whether he had been truthful in his statements under oath.
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• The unintended fallout of Trump steel tariff: Solar going abroad In a letter to Whitaker, the panel’s Chairman Jerrold Nadler said he wanted Whitaker to come back and follow up on answers he gave which seemed “unsatisfactory, incomplete or contradicted by other evidence.”

The status of the committee’s request as of Monday was not immediately known. (Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by David Gregorio)</s>WASHINGTON (AP) — Former acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker has left the Justice Department.

Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec says Whitaker's last day was Saturday.

Whitaker was replaced last month when William Barr was confirmed as attorney general. He became a counselor in the associate attorney general's office.

Whitaker was elevated to acting attorney general in November after President Donald Trump ousted then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Whitaker was chief of staff to Sessions, who angered the Republican president by recusing himself from the Russia investigation.

Democrats criticized Whitaker for past negative comments about the special counsel's Russia probe.

The House Judiciary Committee's chairman said Whitaker didn't offer clear responses about his communications with the White House when he testified last month. Whitaker agreed to return to clarify his testimony.</s>Former acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker has left the Justice Department.

Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec says Whitaker's last day was Saturday.

Whitaker was replaced last month when William Barr was confirmed as attorney general. He became a counselor in the associate attorney general's office.

Whitaker was elevated to acting attorney general in November after President Donald Trump ousted then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Whitaker was chief of staff to Sessions, who angered the Republican president by recusing himself from the Russia investigation.

Democrats criticized Whitaker for past negative comments about the special counsel's Russia probe.

The House Judiciary Committee's chairman said Whitaker didn't offer clear responses about his communications with the White House when he testified last month. Whitaker agreed to return to clarify his testimony.
The United States Department of Justice announces that former acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker has resigned from the Department, with his final day in the department having been March 2. He had remained in the Department as a senior counselor to the Associate Attorney General after his stint as acting Attorney General.