A top Justice Department official deleted a social media post Wednesday that appeared to signal the Trump administration was exploring an alternative avenue to compensate people it believes were targeted by Biden administration-era “weaponization,” raising fresh questions about whether a controversial $1.8 billion reimbursement plan is truly dead.
The post by Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward surfaced less than a day after Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche assured lawmakers that the administration was abandoning plans for a proposed anti-weaponization fund that had sparked bipartisan criticism on Capitol Hill.
“We’re on it,” Woodward wrote late Tuesday in response to a post from Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) suggesting that victims of alleged political targeting could instead seek compensation through claims under the Federal Tort Claims Act. The post was deleted Wednesday morning, with no context about why it was deleted or if plans had changed yet again.
Woodward’s comment quickly drew attention because it appeared to endorse an alternative pathway for compensating individuals who claim they were unfairly investigated or prosecuted during former President Joe Biden’s administration.
