Whitaker Goes from Humdrum Iowa Cases to Trump Attorney General

Matthew Whitaker’s legal work for most of the past decade consisted of defending run-of-the-mill clients in Iowa: a woman accused of shoplifting, a mid-level drug dealer, a drunk man charged with throwing food at a Kum & Go convenience store window.

Now, he’s the acting U.S. attorney general.

Matthew Whitaker

Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg

Working at a small law firm based in Des Moines, Whitaker represented several dozen accused criminals in cases with little or no profile outside his home state, according to a review of his legal work in local, state and federal court, and interviews with attorneys who worked with him.

Aside from ...