A US judge said Friday she will investigate whether Justice Department lawyers deceived her about President Donald Trump's plans to renovate a golf course.
US District Judge Ana Reyes is looking into whether the administration's late notice to the court about removing trees from the East Potomac Golf Course was made in bad faith. She is also examining whether government lawyers misrepresented the renovation plans.
The dispute began in February, when the DC Preservation League and others sued over redevelopment plans for the park. This month, the National Park Service began cutting down hundreds of trees. Reyes said the court was not notified until 15 hours before work was set to begin on a holiday weekend.
Reyes ordered the administration to stop tree removal until at least October 26. In a 70-page ruling this week, she extended that order and barred further changes to the course without ten days' notice while the lawsuit proceeds. The administration has notified the court it intends to appeal, according to CBS News.
Trump has posted on social media that the course will close in November for about 15 months for renovations. He shared a rendering of the redesign. Government lawyers confirmed to Reyes this week that the course would close, after earlier telling her there were no such plans.
At Friday's hearing, Reyes repeatedly questioned when the lawyers knew of the closure plan. She asked whether the Secretary of the Interior was involved in the project. Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward, the third-ranking official at the Justice Department, asked what she meant by "involved." Reyes then read a dictionary definition of the word.
Reyes said she will examine whether the attorneys "have made misrepresentations to the court and otherwise violated ethical rules," including whether they failed to correct earlier false statements or withheld information. She will conduct the inquiry with a special master, an independent third party.
Trump has described the 106-year-old course as "Trash Island" and said the renovation will create "one of the Best and Most Spectacular Golf Courses anywhere in the World."