Judge Opens Inquiry Into DOJ Conduct Over Trump Golf Plan, Eyes Nov. 15 Closure Claims
Updated
Updated · The Washington Post · Oct 30
Judge Opens Inquiry Into DOJ Conduct Over Trump Golf Plan, Eyes Nov. 15 Closure Claims
3 articles · Updated · The Washington Post · Oct 30
Summary
U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes on Friday launched a formal inquiry into whether Justice Department and Interior officials misled her court about President Donald Trump’s plan to close and redesign East Potomac Golf Links.
Oct. 18 and Oct. 19 statements are at the center of the dispute: Trump said a plan had been developed and the course would close Nov. 15, but government lawyers told the court the next day there was no closure plan.
Reyes said a special master would examine possible misrepresentations, withheld information and ethics-rule violations, including whether officials concealed weeks of work on a planning submission and gave late notice before more than 400 trees were cut.
Five business days after Reyes names a special master, the government can object; if none is appointed, she said she will run the inquiry herself, with power to compel documents, testimony and an evidentiary hearing.
The probe deepens a fight already widened by Reyes’s injunction against further tree cutting, the administration’s appeal, and a lawsuit challenging Trump’s broader overhaul of the public golf course.