President Trump’s new acting attorney general, Matthew Whitaker, has been a vocal critic of the Mueller investigation. But he was also associated with a company fined nearly $26 million for scamming customers. “Would you like to receive royalties from a major corporation?” It was called World Patent Marketing, and Whitaker appeared in several of its videos. In this one, he discusses a razor blade: “It easily folds into itself.” He appeared in this video touting a hot tub innovation: “It’s a unique design that’s going to help lots of people.” The company promised inventors lucrative patent agreements. But the government accused it of bilking thousands of customers, and a judge ordered it shut down. Whitaker was most recently chief of staff for the fired attorney general, Jeff Sessions, and his past before that as an outspoken critic of the Russia investigation is also drawing scrutiny. “There is no criminal obstruction of justice charge to be had here.” He often appeared on news shows refuting various aspects of it. Here he says one way to weaken the investigation would be to defund it: “I could see a scenario where Jeff Sessions is replaced ... and that attorney general doesn’t fire Bob Mueller, but he just reduces his budget so low that his investigation grinds to an — almost a halt.” He also said the scope of the investigation should be limited. “If Bob Mueller does go beyond the 2016 election and get into Trump Organization finances ... I think that would be crossing a red line.” Whitaker is a former college football player and a United States attorney from Iowa. He ran for Senate in 2014 but lost in the Republican primary. “You can trust me to fight for Iowa.” Whitaker now has the power to impede the investigation or prevent special counsel Robert Mueller from delivering his final report. And that is making Democrats nervous. “Protecting Mueller and his investigation is paramount.”