WASHINGTON—A federal judge is launching an investigation into whether lawyers and other officials in the Trump administration lied to or misled her in the case surrounding the planned renovation of a golf course in Washington.
During an Oct. 30 hearing, U.S. District Judge Ana C. Reyes said she would either appoint a special master to conduct the investigation or do the probe herself. Her decision came after weeks of tension between Reyes and the Justice Department, which filed a formal complaint after she criticized attorneys’ conduct in court.
Lawyers in the Trump administration also said in a court filing that East Potomac Golf Links will close for renovation on Nov. 15—after denying in court that this was the plan, despite President Donald Trump’s repeated announcements that stated otherwise.
“The court will open a formal inquiry into whether agency officials and employees, including agency attorneys and DOJ attorneys, have made misrepresentations to the court and otherwise violated ethical rules,” Reyes said.
The Epoch Times has reached out to the Justice Department and Interior Department for comment.
Reyes repeatedly clashed with government attorneys during a contentious court hearing, ultimately finding that Justice Department officials had “intentionally” scheduled the sudden removal of hundreds of trees from the golf course to avoid judicial scrutiny. The judge also raised concerns that officials may have misled the court about plans that had been under development for some time.
“The third-highest ranking official at the Department of Justice is telling me, telling a federal court, that he cannot say that when the president posted ‘the course will close on November 15,’ what he meant was, ‘the course will close on November 15’?” Reyes asked.
That official, Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward, said he “cannot opine as to the president’s meaning” and that it “would be improper of me to explain my interpretation.”
The Justice Department revealed in court that plans to renovate the golf course to be submitted to the National Capital Planning Commission have been in the works for weeks. Reyes criticized the administration for not telling her this during a hearing earlier this month. The commission is the federal government’s planning agency for projects in Washington and in the surrounding areas.
“I don’t recall the court asking a question as to whether we were wanting to come up with a plan,” Woodward said.
“Are you kidding me right now?” Reyes replied.
“Am I to understand that for weeks someone has been putting pen to paper on a submission to design the golf course … while this litigation was ongoing, while Department of Justice employees were representing to me that there was no plan?” she said.
According to an Oct. 28 filing, the National Park Service will submit for review on Oct. 30 a design by golf course architect Tom Fazio to the National Capital Planning Commission to renovate East Potomac Golf Links. The commission will consider the rendering at its Dec. 3 meeting.
Reyes issued an injunction on Oct. 26 to prevent the administration from cutting down trees at East Potomac Golf Links. The administration has said it has been removing trees as part of a plan from 2019.
Trump announced on Oct. 19 that East Potomac Golf Links will be closed on Nov. 15 for a 15-month renovation. The president, who owns numerous golf courses in the United States and abroad, said he plans to turn the golf course into a world-class 18-hole PGA Tour golf course. Currently, there are two nine-hole courses and one 18-hole course.
Two golfers have sued the administration to stop the project, saying it violates the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires agencies to consider the environmental impact of projects before finalizing them.
Trump has lamented what he described as poor conditions at the course, including diseased trees, a collapsing seawall, and overgrowth that had obscured views of Washington, a feature of the original course.
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