Matthew Cooper is a political journalist with a career spanning over 30 years, currently serving as the Executive Editor of Digital at the Washington Monthly. From 2014 to 2018 he was a senior writer and an editor at Newsweek. Before that he was the managing editor for White House coverage at National Journal magazine and editor of National Journal Daily. Cooper is a former reporter for Time who, along with New York Times reporter Judith Miller was held in contempt of court and threatened with imprisonment for refusing to testify before the Grand Jury regarding the Valerie Plame CIA leak investigation. He was a blogger for Talking Points Memo in early 2009, and contributed to the magazine Condé Nast Portfolio until it closed in April, 2009, after which he became a correspondent for The Atlantic magazine. He worked for the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission on a book about the group's findings from the economic collapse in 2010.

National Journal is an advisory services company based in Washington, D.C., offering services in government affairs, advocacy communications, stakeholder mapping, and policy brands research for government and business leaders. It publishes daily journalism covering politics and public policy and is led by president Kevin Turpin, National Journal Daily editor-in-chief Jeff Dufour, and The Hotline editor-in-chief Kirk Bado.