(CNN) – An Iowa state legislator has said new acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker once targeted him with a politically-motivated investigation and is unfit to serve.
Matt McCoy, who has served in the Iowa Senate for more than 20 years, claims Whitaker targeted him years ago because he was a Democrat and openly gay.
When former Attorney General Jeff Sessions walked out of the Department of Justice and shook hands with Whitaker on Wednesday, McCoy was aghast.
“Well, I initially thought, I can’t think of a more ill-qualified person to assume that role based on my experience with him,” McCoy, who became the first openly gay member of the Iowa Legislature in 1993, said.
In 2007, McCoy was a rising star in Iowa’s Democratic Party. At the same time, Whitaker was the young, conservative, Republican U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa.
That year Whitaker charged McCoy with “attempted extortion by a public official,” setting off a two-year saga for the Democratic lawmaker.
“I absolutely believe that’s why I was targeted,” he said of his political affiliation.
McCoy said it was a $2,000 business dispute with a private consulting client who wouldn’t pay a bill.
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