President Donald Trump has a tendency to hire men and women who have television experience, and Matt Whitaker, who became his acting attorney general on Wednesday with the forced resignation of Jeff Sessions, is no different.
Whitaker served as a legal commentator for CNN, the president’s least-favorite network, for four months last year, from June to September 2017.
In early August 2017, Whitaker wrote on Twitter, “I will be joining @cnn at the top of the hour in my role as ‘legal commentator. I really can’t think of anything timely to discuss.”
On Aug. 28, 2017, Whitaker was booked to discuss Robert Mueller’s Special Counsel investigation, which he coincidentally now has oversight over. But, he said, his appearance was canceled while he was already in his seat. “First time for everything, I guess,” he said.
It’s clear why he left his role at CNN: In October 2017, he entered the Trump administration as chief of staff and senior counselor to Sessions.
According to his tweets about his live appearances, Whitaker appeared most regularly on Don Lemon’s primetime show.
“So, we know Matt Whitaker here,” Lemon said on Wednesday night. “We had him on the show a number of times.”
The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to CNN about Whitaker’s hiring.
