Washington, D.C.: Federal Judge Orders Investigation Into Whether the Government Misled the Court Over East Potomac Golf Course
Follow-up: Washington, District of Columbia — After a hearing lasting nearly three hours on Oct. 30, U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes announced she will open an ethics investigation into how the Trump administration has handled the East Potomac Golf Course renovation project, examining whether Justice Department lawyers misled the court about the government's plans, CNN reported.
The inquiry will likely be handled by a special master appointed by the court and could lead to sanctions, though Reyes stressed she has not found that DOJ lawyers misrepresented anything — only that she intends to consider that possibility. Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward appeared at the hearing in person; he also leads the Justice Department's work on the midterm elections.
At the center of the inquiry are the government's sudden removal of more than 400 trees on Oct. 10 and its shifting statements: the Justice Department insisted on Oct. 19 that the government did not intend to close the course, yet nine days later the government announced the course would close on Nov. 15 for renovation. Reyes has repeatedly questioned claims that the tree removal was unrelated to the president's publicly stated wish to renovate the course, and has ordered the attorneys to retain all documents related to the case. The Oct. 30 ruling follows the government's Oct. 29 confirmation of the Nov. 15 closure and takes the legal fight over the course into a new phase.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：美国内政部主内政大楼外景（华盛顿）。图片来源：Wikimedia Commons（CC BY 4.0），GSM固定图库。 / Photo: U.S. Department of the Interior headquarters, Washington, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0), GSM fixed library.
