WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump says he has chosen former acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker to serve as U.S. ambassador to NATO, the bedrock Western alliance that the president-elect has expressed skepticism about for years.

Trump, in a statement, said Whitaker was “a strong warrior and loyal Patriot” who “will ensure the United States’ interests are advanced and defended” and “strengthen relationships with our NATO Allies, and stand firm in the face of threats to Peace and Stability.”

On Tuesday, Trump tapped billionaire professional wrestling mogul Linda McMahon to be secretary of the Education Department, tasked with overseeing an agency the president-elect has long promised to dismantle.

McMahon led the Small Business Administration from 2017 to 2019 during Trump’s initial term and twice ran unsuccessfully as a Republican for the U.S. Senate in Connecticut.

McMahon served on the Connecticut Board of Education for a year starting in 2009 and has spent years on the board of trustees for Sacred Heart University in Connecticut. Nevertheless, she’s seen as a relative unknown in education circles, though she has expressed support for charter schools and school choice.

“Linda will use her decades of Leadership experience, and deep understanding of both Education and Business, to empower the next Generation of American Students and Workers, and make America Number One in Education in the World,” Trump said in a statement.

She is married to Vince McMahon, who stepped down as World Wrestling Entertainment’s CEO in 2022 amid a company investigation into allegations that he engaged in sexual battery and trafficking. He also resigned as executive chairman of the board of TKO Group Holdings this January, though he has denied the allegations.

The choice of Whitaker as the nation’s representative to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is an unusual one, given his background is in law enforcement and not in foreign policy.

The NATO post is a particularly sensitive one given Trump’s vocal disregard of the alliance’s value and his complaints that numerous members are not meeting their commitments to spend at least 2% of their GDP on defense.

Whitaker is a former U.S. attorney in Iowa and served as acting attorney general between November 2018 and February 2019, as special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election interference was drawing to a close.

Before then, he was chief of staff to Trump’s first attorney general, Jeff Sessions, before being picked to replace his boss after Sessions was fired amid lingering outrage over his decision to withdraw from the Russia investigation. Whitaker held the position for several months, on an acting basis and without Senate confirmation, until William Barr was confirmed as attorney general in February 2019.

Whitaker has been a relentless critic of the federal criminal cases against Trump, which appear set to evaporate after Trump’s election win. Whitaker has used regular appearances on Fox News to join other Republicans in decrying what they contend is the politicization of the Justice Department over the past four years.

Whitaker has little evident foreign policy or national security experience, making him an unknown to many in U.S. security circles.

Previous ambassadors to NATO have generally had years of diplomatic, political or military experience. Trump’s first-term NATO ambassador, former Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, did not, although she had been involved in foreign policy issues while in Congress.

Whitaker, Trump noted in his announcement, is a former Iowa football player.

Whitaker has faced questions about his past business dealings, including his ties to an invention-promotion company that was accused of misleading consumers.