Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker earned more than $900,000 from a nonprofit organization that criticized Democrats and endorsed right-wing causes, according to financial disclosure forms released Tuesday by the Department of Justice.
Mr. Whitaker earned $904,000 from the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT), where he served as a director from October 2014 to September 2017, the forms revealed. Of the total income reported, Mr. Whitaker earned $402,000 in 2016 and $504,000 in 2017.
The organization dedicated most of its time to filing ethics complaints against Democratic Party candidates and condemning former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for her use of a private email server.
Since 2014, FACT has filed over 80 ethics complaint, over 60 of which were filed under Mr. Whitaker’s leadership.
A FACT spokesperson disputed that the group favored conservative lawmakers, saying it nonpartisan.
“It is well documented that FACT has filed several complaints against current and former Republican members of Congress,” the spokesman said in a statement. “FACT has also called for the resignation of Republican lawmakers.”
Mr. Whitaker also earned $1,875 in legal fees from World Patent Marketing, where he was a board member. The FTC shut down the company, which sought to secure patents for inventors, last year calling it a “scam.”
Other income included $103,400 from his eponymous law firm, $15,000 in legal fees from CNN and $1,750 in consulting fees from American Trust Bank.
Two credit cards owned by Mr. Whitaker each have between $10,000 and $15,000 in liabilities according to the two cards. However, it is not clear from the disclosure if those amounts are credit card debt.
President Trump elevated Mr. Whitaker after he canned former Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Nov, 7, one day after the midterm elections. At the time he was Mr. Sessions’ chief of staff.
Watchdog groups had criticized Mr. Whitaker for not making his annual financial disclosure form public. One such organization, American Oversight, sent a letter to the Office of Government ethics last week demanding Mr. Whitaker release his disclosure to the public.
Mr. Whitaker had revised his financial disclosure form five times since becoming acting attorney general, the forms showed.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.