President Donald Trump is discussing elevating Harmeet Dhillon to the Justice Department’s No. 3 post of associate attorney general, which would force out an official with close White House ties for a more vocal MAGA advocate.
Dhillon, a former Trump personal lawyer who’s spent the past year overhauling DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, is in line for an imminent nomination to replace Stanley Woodward, said two people familiar with the situation. It’s unclear if Woodward, a lawyer who’s represented many people in Donald Trump’s orbit, would be demoted or resign altogether under this plan, said two people familiar with the situation.
The moves aren’t official and are subject to change, but if the leadership shuffle comes to fruition it would show an escalated push by the president to oust even some of his most loyal DOJ allies.
Woodward hasn’t resigned as of Sunday, contrary to an earlier report from the conservative Daily Wire, several people said. CBS News previously reported on the talks to promote Dhillon.
The shakeup would add more tumult in DOJ’s highest ranks in the wake of Trump firing Attorney General Pam Bondi April 2, as the president has grown frustrated over the pace of work on his law enforcement priorities. By moving up Dhillon, who’s been litigating to try forcing dozens of states to hand over voter rolls, the White House would be expanding her authority over election integrity, which falls under the associate AG’s purview, as the midterms approach.
Woodward had only assumed the senior role last October, at which point Dhillon started reporting directly to him in her capacity as civil rights head. The associate AG’s office also oversees the civil, antitrust, and environmental divisions, among other programs.
Spokespeople for DOJ and the White House didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Woodward, who previously represented Jan. 6 defendants and Trump aides, was more recently embroiled in the administration’s high-profile reversal over defending executive orders targeting major law firms.
He was one of two DOJ lawyers who told a court the administration was abandoning its appeal, before backtracking the following day. The administration said the initial decision to drop its defense of the law firm orders that a lower court had struck down was an inadvertent filing by Woodward.
Dhillon has aggressively pushed the Civil Rights Division to defeat diversity, equity, and inclusion policies and has seen the majority of the career workforce depart under her watch.
Although Woodward has important supporters in the administration, including at a White House where he’d briefly served at the start of Trump’s second term, Dhillon has a crucial ally in White House Counsel David Warrington, said people familiar with the dynamic. He used to work for her in the private sector as a partner at the Dhillon Law Group.
As the president’s top legal adviser, Warrington now can wield significant influence over DOJ personnel decisions.
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