Matthew Cooper was named TIME White House correspondent in June 2003. Cooper returned to the White House after serving as TIME Deputy Washington Bureau Chief where he helped manage the magazine's Beltway coverage.

Cooper returned to the White House where he covered the President Clinton from 1993 to 1995 for U.S. News & World Report. In 1995 and 1996, he wrote the White House Watch column for The New Republic, and he later served as a National Correspondent for Newsweek from 1996 until 1999.

In the 80's, Cooper was an editor for The Washington Monthly and was Atlanta Bureau Chief for U.S. News & World Report. He has written for multiple publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Slate, The Washington Monthly and Los Angeles magazine.

Cooper moonlights as a stand-up comedian and was named "Washington's Funniest Celebrity" in 1998. A New Jersey native, Cooper is a 1984 graduate of Columbia University in New York City. He and his wife live in Washington, D.C. with their son.