Whitaker was JS's chief of staff. From Wikipedia, "In general, a chief of staff provides a buffer between a chief executive and that executive's direct-reporting team. The chief of staff generally works behind the scenes to solve problems, mediate disputes, and deal with issues before they are brought to the chief executive."

So, potentially Whitaker already knows the good, bad and ugly among all or most DOJ employees. How nice.

Seems bringing Whitaker on could have been one of JS' good deeds while AG.