A federal judge said Friday she will investigate whether Justice Department lawyers deceived her about President Trump's plans to renovate a historic Washington, DC golf course, in a case that has escalated from a routine parkland dispute into an inquiry over the government's own honesty in court.
US District Judge Ana Reyes is presiding over a lawsuit, filed in February by the DC Preservation League and other groups, challenging the administration's redevelopment of the 106-year-old East Potomac Golf Course. The dispute escalated this month when the National Park Service began cutting down hundreds of trees without notifying Reyes until 15 hours before work began, over a holiday weekend. She ordered the administration to halt tree removal and give her ten days' notice before making further permanent changes while the case proceeds.
"What do you mean by involved?"
Despite that order, Trump recently announced on social media that the course would close for 15 months beginning in November, sharing a rendering of his planned redesign. He has described the current course as "Trash Island" and said the renovation would create "one of the Best and Most Spectacular Golf Courses anywhere in the World," open to the public while able to host major tournaments. Government lawyers this week confirmed to Reyes that the course would indeed close — after previously telling her there were no such plans.
At Friday's hearing, Reyes took a sharp tone with Justice Department attorneys, repeatedly pressing them on when they had learned of the closure plan. When she asked whether the Interior Secretary had been "involved" in the project, Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward asked what she meant by the word — prompting Reyes to read its dictionary definition aloud. She said she would appoint an independent special master to determine whether government lawyers "made misrepresentations to the court and otherwise violated ethical rules," including whether the late notice was made in bad faith.
Trump, who has previously called Reyes a "crazed lunatic" on social media, has said work on the course would begin "immediately" regardless of the litigation. The Trump administration has told the court it intends to appeal Reyes's order barring further changes without notice.
The case is among several in which judges have accused administration lawyers of withholding or misrepresenting information in court this year. For now, the special-master inquiry means East Potomac's fate — and the credibility of the government's legal team — will remain unresolved as the litigation grinds on.
