This Justice Department official hustles to the forefront of Trump’s legal agenda

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President Donald Trump said on Friday he wanted an election-related lawsuit to be filed in Alaska.

The man to do it for him was Stanley Woodward, the associate attorney general.

Holding the third highest ranking job at the Justice Department and having never appeared in federal court in Alaska before, Woodward has taken on that case’s unusual task — a fight to potentially block election certification if the incumbent Republican candidate loses — with little apparent help from other parts of his agency. (One assistant US attorney submitted and signed the filing under Woodward.)

In other administrations — and even in prior months — election litigation hasn’t come from the associate attorney general’s office.

Yet the Alaska lawsuit capped a week where Woodward, a longtime DC attorney, had hustled to the forefront of the president’s personal agenda.

Earlier in the week, he spent a full day in court arguing what government witnesses could share in testimony about Trump’s plans for a golf course in Washington, DC. His argument and filings have lately echoed Trump’s frustration with some federal judges.

In recent weeks, Woodward at times has positioned himself as the Justice Department political appointee who could shield career Justice Department attorneys caught between the administration’s controversial positions and frustrated federal judges.

“It’s difficult to put my colleague in a position of contradicting the president,” he told a judge in Washington, DC, at the golf course hearing Monday, where he played clean up after a lower-level DOJ attorney struggled to square the government’s arguments with what Trump had said publicly about the case.

He was ordered to attend the hearing by Judge Ana Reyes after he was the sole signer of a court submission that responded to her yelling at a previous hearing because of the Justice Department’s handling of the case.

A longtime defense lawyer with ample trial-court experience after the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot and during the federal investigations into Donald Trump, Woodward landed in the Justice Department about a year ago, after serving as a White House attorney for Trump. Prior to Trump’s reelection, he had already been in the inner circle of lawyers around the president, personally representing Trump associates in the January 6 and classified documents criminal conspiracy investigations between 2021 and 2024. His clients have included now-FBI Director Kash Patel, and White House advisers Dan Scavino and Peter Navarro.

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Trump calls golf course ‘trash island’ after heated court hearing over renovation

His work at the time gained notoriety and respect among several judges in the DC District Court for how frequently he was appearing before them.

Yet the persona has shifted this year, as Woodward has increasingly signed more extreme court filings, including ones that have mimicked Trump’s personal tone, in a case challenging the construction of the East Wing ballroom.

Woodward signed a court filing in April that said what the legal challengers were doing was “very bad for our country,” and that the plaintiffs, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, had “a beautiful name, but even their name is FAKE.”

“This is a terrible, tremendously harmful case to the United States of America, and all it stands for!” Woodward also wrote to the court in the ballroom litigation.

More recently, Woodward has been especially critical of judges who have been making moves to rein in Trump administration priorities.

Woodward last weekend submitted a filing to Reyes asking for her recusal in the golf course case — a challenge to Trump’s plans to turn the course, which is accessible to the public at a modest price, to a more exclusive, championship-level venue. Woodward argued that the judge’s heated reaction to a sudden move by the administrations to cut down hundreds of trees showed a bias against the administration, and that her demeanor on the bench exhibited “histrionics.”

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And on Tuesday, in unrelated cases in Minnesota, Woodward took aim at two different senior judges who are overseeing federal court cases for immigrants. The requests that senior judges Patrick Schlitz and John Tunheim recuse because of recent comments they made in the press that were critical of the administration’s immigration enforcement mirrored how Woodward approached Reyes by submitting the court filings separately from other Justice Department attorneys involved in the cases.

“The American people must be able to trust the impartiality of our Nation’s judges. Unfortunately, some judges have breached that trust … This [Justice Department] will not let that stand,” Woodward posted on the social media site X on Wednesday.

The prominent role Woodward has taken defending Trump’s wishes in court has, at times, made him the administration’s chief legal punching bag — including among critics of Justice Department leadership on the right.

Last week, the prominent far-right influencer and Trump ally Laura Loomer repeatedly attacked Woodward for his shepherding of cases over veterans’ claims and settlements following decades of water contamination in the 20th century at the US Marine Corps base Camp Lejeune.

Loomer has frequently pointed out that Woodward has past ties to Democrats as a lawyer in Washington.

Attorney General Todd Blanche has publicly defended him several times.

Blanche worked alongside Woodward on legal defenses around Trump in 2023 and 2024, where the now-attorney general represented Trump personally and Woodward represented a co-defendant —Trump’s aide Walt Nauta — in the classified documents case.

“You are dead wrong about Stanley,” Blanche wrote to Loomer Tuesday on his official X account. “He is a patriot who is fighting for POTUS and the American people every day … Find a different obsession other than going after one of DOJ’s best fighters.”

A Justice Department spokesperson said the department and Woodward’s work on Camp Lejeune settlements and efforts to protect veterans are “in lock step” with the Pentagon and the White House.

Woodward didn’t comment for this story

Amid the attorney general’s defending Woodward from attacks from the conservatives, Woodward has continued to attempt to maintain his place in the DC legal community, which largely leans liberal.

Trump promises settlements for vets in contaminated water lawsuits if GOP wins

This spring, he attended the retreat for the lawyers and judges of the DC federal courts, called the Circuit Conference, in Williamsburg, Virginia. His attendance surprised many of the lawyers there.

People who attended social events with Woodward in the evenings told CNN they witnessed him trying to chat with former Biden administration Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta. But he also took flack in person from Matt Olsen, a former top national security attorney in Democratic administrations, who indicated to Woodward he thought he was a disgrace to his job. Both Olsen and Gupta declined to comment.

A Justice Department spokesperson responded to questions about those interactions by saying “being called a disgrace by a top deep state lawyer,” meaning Olsen, “should be viewed as a badge of honor” and that Woodward “of course can have respectful conversation with the former associate attorney general,” meaning Gupta.

The traditional role of the associate attorney general has been to oversee civil litigation handled by Justice Department headquarters in Washington, as well as cases related to the environment and natural resources, government approval of corporate mergers and tax-related matters.

“The associate position is one where the individual can have a pretty large say in how they execute the authority. There’s obviously a lot of civil litigation attorneys under the associate’s supervisory chain,” said Ed O’Callaghan, who served as a top Justice Department official during the first Trump administration.

“What I see him doing is saying, I am the top political appointee below the attorney general itself to argue the policies of the administration.”

O’Callaghan noted that some associate attorneys general in the past have argued in court at their choosing, as Woodward is doing now, including Kevin O’Connor in the George W. Bush administration, who regularly appeared in federal appellate court arguments.

“It’s not easy to do,” O’Callaghan added.

During Woodward’s daylong appearance in Reyes’ courtroom Monday, he was surrounded by no less than eight other Justice Department lawyers and officials in court.

He jumped in several times when Reyes was grilling a greener, career-level Justice Department attorney about the administration’s handling of the case.

“Someone is going to have to take responsibility for what is said in court,” Reyes said later in the all-day hearing on Monday after a Justice Department lawyer was unable or unwilling to answer Reyes’ questions.

Woodward jumped up and walked toward the front of the courtroom, ignoring the requirement to speak into a microphone.

“That’s why I’m here! He knows the law. Yell at me, not him,” he told Reyes.

The associate attorney general also took the lead objecting to questions posed to officials from the administration as they were asked to testify about conversations they may have had with government lawyers, or with the president himself.

Kent Nishimura/AFP/Getty Images/File

At one point in the hearing, Woodward had objected so many times — citing executive privilege, confidentiality around government deliberations, or attorney-client communications — that he barely stood up from his chair to interject, staring at the counsel’s table in front of him as he listened.

“I’m sorry, your Honor,” Woodward said, apologizing for interrupting, hunched over and still looking down.

“Ok, you’re getting good at this,” Reyes said, referring to his success in shielding witnesses from answering, and without looking at him, she sustained his objection. The judge moved on to the next question.

At another point in the hearing, Woodward scrambled to object to questions lawyer Abbe Lowell was asking Department of Interior official Gregory Wischer, who visited the East Potomac golf course property with Trump and others in June.

Woodward noted he knew the case law around executive privilege because of his work on White House adviser Peter Navarro’s criminal contempt of Congress case in 2023, as he and Reyes discussed whether he would get a letter from the White House formally asserting privilege in the golf course litigation.

“I don’t speak to the president directly,” Woodward told the judge.

A Justice Department spokesperson later clarified that Woodward does meet and speak to Trump, just not regarding official executive privilege assertions.

CNN’s Evan Perez, Catherine Shoichet and Kit Maher contributed to this report.

Jabin Botsford/《华盛顿邮报》 via Getty Images

唐纳德·特朗普总统周五表示，他希望在阿拉斯加提起与选举有关的诉讼。

替他做这件事的人是副司法部长斯坦利·伍德沃德。

伍德沃德在司法部担任第三高职位，此前从未在阿拉斯加联邦法院出庭，如今却独自承担了这起案件的特殊任务——如果现任共和党候选人败选，他可能会阻止选举结果的认证——而且似乎没有得到司法部其他部门的太多帮助。（这份文件是由一名助理联邦检察官在伍德沃德的领导下提交并签署的。）

在其他政府时期，甚至在之前的几个月里，选举诉讼都不是来自副司法部长办公室。

然而，阿拉斯加的这起诉讼，标志着伍德沃德——这位在华盛顿特区执业多年的律师——在一周内迅速跻身总统个人议程的最前沿。

本周早些时候，他花了一整天时间在法庭上辩论政府证人在有关特朗普在华盛顿特区修建高尔夫球场计划的证词中可以透露哪些信息。他最近的辩论和提交的文件反映了特朗普对一些联邦法官的不满。

最近几周，伍德沃德有时把自己定位为司法部的政治任命官员，他可以保护那些夹在政府有争议的立场和沮丧的联邦法官之间的司法部职业律师。

“很难让我的同事处于与总统相矛盾的境地，”他在周一于华盛顿特区举行的听证会上对法官说。此前，一名级别较低的司法部律师难以将政府的论点与特朗普就此案公开发表的言论相协调，因此他不得不收拾残局。

在司法部处理此案的方式遭到法官安娜·雷耶斯 (Ana Reyes) 的严厉批评后，他作为唯一签署法庭文件的人，被法官勒令出席听证会。

伍德沃德是一位经验丰富的辩护律师，在2021年1月6日国会大厦骚乱以及针对唐纳德·特朗普的联邦调查期间，他积累了丰富的庭审经验。大约一年前，他加入司法部，此前他曾担任特朗普的白宫律师。在特朗普连任之前，他已是总统核心律师团队的一员，并在2021年至2024年间亲自代表特朗普的亲信处理1月6日骚乱和机密文件相关的刑事阴谋调查。他的客户包括现任联邦调查局局长卡什·帕特尔，以及白宫顾问丹·斯卡维诺和彼得·纳瓦罗。

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在就高尔夫球场翻新工程举行激烈庭审后，特朗普称其为“垃圾岛”。

当时，他频繁出庭，因此在华盛顿特区地方法院的几位法官中赢得了声誉和尊重。

然而，今年伍德沃德的形象发生了转变，他签署的法庭文件越来越极端，其中一些文件模仿了特朗普的个人语气，这起案件挑战了白宫东翼宴会厅的建设。

伍德沃德在四月份签署了一份法庭文件，称法律挑战者的行为“对我们国家非常不利”，并称原告“国家历史保护信托基金”“名字很好听，但连他们的名字都是假的”。

“这起案件对美利坚合众国及其所代表的一切都是极其可怕的、极其有害的！”伍德沃德在舞厅诉讼案中也向法庭写道。

最近，伍德沃德尤其批评那些试图限制特朗普政府优先事项的法官。

伍德沃德上周末向雷耶斯法官提交了一份文件，要求她在高尔夫球场案中回避。该案挑战了特朗普将这座价格适中、面向公众开放的高尔夫球场改造成更高端、锦标赛级别的场地的计划。伍德沃德认为，法官对特朗普政府突然砍伐数百棵树木的举动反应激烈，表明她对政府存在偏见，而且她在法庭上的举止也显得“歇斯底里”。

Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

周二，在明尼苏达州的几起无关案件中，伍德沃德将矛头指向了两名负责审理联邦移民案件的高级法官。他要求帕特里克·施利茨和约翰·图恩海姆这两位高级法官回避，理由是他们近期在媒体上发表了批评政府移民执法的言论。伍德沃德对待雷耶斯法官的方式，与他向其他参与此案的司法部律师单独提交法庭文件如出一辙。

伍德沃德周三在社交媒体网站X上发帖称：“美国人民必须能够信任我们国家法官的公正性。不幸的是，一些法官辜负了这种信任……司法部绝不会容忍这种情况发生。”

伍德沃德在法庭上为特朗普的意愿辩护所扮演的重要角色，有时使他成为政府的主要法律攻击目标——包括右翼司法部领导层的批评者。

上周，著名极右翼影响者和特朗普盟友劳拉·卢默多次抨击伍德沃德，指责他主导了有关退伍军人索赔和和解的案件，这些案件涉及美国海军陆战队基地勒琼营在 20 世纪遭受数十年水污染的情况。

卢默经常指出，伍德沃德作为华盛顿的律师，过去与民主党人有联系。

司法部长托德·布兰奇曾多次公开为他辩护。

2023 年和 2024 年，布兰奇与伍德沃德一起为特朗普进行法律辩护，当时布兰奇是现任司法部长，代表特朗普本人，而伍德沃德则代表共同被告——特朗普的助手沃尔特·诺塔——处理机密文件案件。

“你对斯坦利的看法完全错误，”布兰奇周二通过卢默的官方X账号写道。“他是一位爱国者，每天都在为总统和美国人民而战……与其纠缠司法部最优秀的斗士之一，不如找点别的事做吧。”

司法部发言人表示，司法部和伍德沃德在勒琼营和解协议以及保护退伍军人方面的工作与五角大楼和白宫“步调一致”。

伍德沃德没有对此事发表评论。

在司法部长为伍德沃德辩护，使其免受保守派攻击的同时，伍德沃德继续努力保住自己在华盛顿特区法律界的地位，而该法律界在很大程度上倾向于自由派。

特朗普承诺，如果共和党赢得大选，将为因饮用水污染诉讼而受害的退伍军人提供和解方案。

今年春天，他参加了在弗吉尼亚州威廉斯堡举行的哥伦比亚特区联邦法院律师和法官的研讨会，名为“巡回会议”。他的出席令许多与会律师感到惊讶。

据CNN报道，一些晚上与伍德沃德一同参加社交活动的人士称，他们看到伍德沃德试图与拜登政府时期的副司法部长瓦妮塔·古普塔攀谈。但伍德沃德也遭到了前民主党政府高级国家安全律师马特·奥尔森的当面批评。奥尔森曾向伍德沃德表示，他认为伍德沃德的行为有辱其职业操守。奥尔森和古普塔均拒绝置评。

司法部发言人回应有关这些互动的问题时表示，“被一位资深的深层政府律师”（指奥尔森）称为“耻辱”应该被视为“荣誉勋章”，伍德沃德“当然可以与这位前副司法部长”（指古普塔）进行“尊重的对话”。

副司法部长的传统职责是监督司法部华盛顿总部处理的民事诉讼，以及与环境和自然资源、政府对公司合并的批准和税务相关事项有关的案件。

“助理律师这个职位赋予个人相当大的自主权，可以决定如何行使职权。显然，助理律师的下属有很多民事诉讼律师，”曾在特朗普第一任期内担任司法部高级官员的埃德·奥卡拉汉说道。

“我看到他实际上是在说，我是仅次于司法部长的最高政治任命官员，可以代表政府阐述政策。”

奥卡拉汉指出，过去一些副司法部长曾像伍德沃德现在这样，根据自己的意愿在法庭上进行辩论，其中包括乔治·W·布什政府时期的凯文·奥康纳，他经常出现在联邦上诉法院的辩论中。

“这并不容易做到，”奥卡拉汉补充道。

周一，伍德沃德在雷耶斯法官的法庭上出庭一整天，期间至少有八名司法部律师和官员在场。

当雷耶斯就政府对该案件的处理方式质问一位资历尚浅的司法部律师时，他多次插话。

在周一举行的全天听证会上，雷耶斯在司法部律师无法或不愿回答他的提问后表示：“总得有人为在法庭上说的话负责。”

伍德沃德跳起来，走向法庭前面，无视了必须对着麦克风说话的规定。

“所以我才来这儿！他懂法律。冲我吼，别冲他吼，”他告诉雷耶斯。

这位副司法部长还带头反对向政府官员提出的问题，这些问题要求他们作证说明他们可能与政府律师或总统本人进行的谈话。

Kent Nishimura/AFP/Getty Images/档案照片

在听证会的某个阶段，伍德沃德多次提出反对意见——援引行政特权、政府审议的保密性或律师与客户之间的沟通——以至于他几乎没有从椅子上站起来插话，只是盯着面前的律师席听着。

“对不起，法官大人，”伍德沃德弓着背，低着头，为打断法官而道歉。

“好吧，你越来越擅长这个了，”雷耶斯说道，指的是他成功地阻止证人回答问题。法官没有看他，就支持了他的反对意见。法官继续询问下一个问题。

在听证会的另一环节，伍德沃德急忙对律师艾比·洛厄尔向内政部官员格雷戈里·维舍尔提出的问题表示反对。维舍尔曾在 6 月份与特朗普等人一起参观了东波托马克高尔夫球场。

伍德沃德指出，由于他曾在 2023 年参与白宫顾问彼得·纳瓦罗藐视国会的刑事案件，因此他了解有关行政特权的判例法。他和雷耶斯讨论了他是否会收到白宫的一封信，正式主张高尔夫球场诉讼中的特权。

伍德沃德告诉法官：“我没有直接与总统对话。”

司法部发言人后来澄清说，伍德沃德确实会见特朗普并与他交谈，只是不涉及官方的行政特权主张。

CNN的埃文·佩雷斯、凯瑟琳·肖切特和基特·马赫对本报道亦有贡献。