How a D.C. Golf Course Fight Led a Judge to Open a Misconduct Inquiry

A federal judge in Washington said Friday she is opening a formal inquiry into whether Trump administration officials and lawyers misrepresented President Donald Trump’s plans for East Potomac Golf Links and violated ethics rules, CBS News, NPR and the BBC reported. U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes stressed that no wrongdoing has been found. She said she is only examining whether any occurred.

The move is relatively unusual, NPR said, and suggests the judge is no longer taking the administration at its word. The course, a public one operating since the 1920s, is due to close Nov. 15 for renovation, according to Trump and court filings.

How the dispute got here

• February: The DC Preservation League and others sued over redevelopment plans for East Potomac Park, the BBC reported. NPR said local golfers and preservation advocates brought the case, and that government lawyers repeatedly said no final plan existed.
• Early October: The National Park Service cut down hundreds of trees at the course. The BBC said the judge was told 15 hours before work began on a holiday weekend. Officials denied that the clearing was part of a broader renovation, while Reyes called it a pretext for starting work without proper approvals, NPR reported.
• Oct. 18: Trump announced on Truth Social that the Interior Department and golf architect Tom Fazio had developed a plan for a championship course on the site. He said work would start Nov. 15, when East Potomac would close.
• This week: Reyes issued a 70-page ruling extending her ban on tree removal and requiring 10 days’ notice before further alterations while the case continues, the BBC said. The administration appealed. On Wednesday, government lawyers acknowledged in writing that the park would close next month, NPR reported.
• Friday: After a hearing NPR said lasted four hours, Reyes announced the inquiry.

What the inquiry will examine

According to CBS, Reyes will look at whether the notice about impending tree cutting was filed in bad faith. She will also examine whether government lawyers told Jessica Bowron, acting director of the National Park Service, to leave certain information out of a declaration, and whether they told Kevin Griess, superintendent of National Mall and Memorial Parks, to include certain budget information in another.

The BBC reported she will also consider whether attorneys failed to correct earlier false statements or withheld information. Reyes ordered officials to preserve all relevant documents so the inquiry can proceed without loss of evidence, NPR said.

She plans to use a special master, an independent arbiter who she said would have full investigatory powers, according to NPR. She has not named one and gave the Justice Department five days to object, CBS reported. If the government rejects the choice, NPR said, she will lead the inquiry herself.

What the hearing revealed

NPR reported that Reyes opened by citing a D.C. Bar rule that bars lawyers from knowingly making or failing to correct false statements to a court. Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward Jr., who is leading the government’s defense, said he had nothing to correct to his knowledge.

The judge questioned why no one disclosed that a design submission had been in the works for weeks, including during a seven-hour hearing earlier. Woodward said the plans were sent to the National Capital Planning Commission on Friday. The BBC said Reyes also asked whether the Secretary of the Interior was involved and read a dictionary definition of “involved” after Woodward asked what she meant.

What this means

For people who use the park, the key date is Nov. 15. Trump has said the course and surrounding areas will close then, and government lawyers told the court the Interior Department is working on a plan to close the course next month. The BBC reported Trump said the closure would last 15 months. Reyes’ earlier orders still bar tree cutting while the case continues.

The inquiry itself does not decide whether the renovation goes ahead. It focuses on how government lawyers handled the court, though it adds scrutiny to a case that Reyes wrote has become about much more than golf.

What happens next

The Justice Department has five days to object to a special master. The administration’s appeal of the judge’s ruling is pending, and the Nov. 15 closure date is set.

Around Prague, based on reporting by CBS News, BBC News, NPR