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'Are you kidding me right now?' Judge opens inquiry into whether DOJ lawyers misled her about Trump's golf course

“For months the court has trusted but not verified. No longer.” Judge Ana Reyes wants to know if DOJ lawyers misled her about Trump's golf course plans.

'Are you kidding me right now?' Judge opens inquiry into whether DOJ lawyers misled her about Trump's golf course
Stock photo. Photo by Simon Ray on Unsplash. Not from the event described.

A federal judge in Washington opened a formal inquiry Friday into whether Justice Department lawyers misled her about Trump's plans for East Potomac Golf Links, a public golf course in the nation's capital.

"For months the court has trusted but not verified," U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes said from the bench, Bloomberg Law reported. "No longer."

The inquiry will look at whether government lawyers made false statements, held back information or otherwise broke ethics rules. Reyes said she could run it herself or appoint a special master. She ordered the administration to preserve every document and communication about the golf course plans, and she stressed that opening the inquiry does not mean she has found a violation.

Trump's word or his lawyers'?

The fight comes down to whom the court should believe: Trump or his Justice Department.

On Oct. 18, Trump posted on Truth Social that the course would close Nov. 15. The next day, Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward, the department's third-ranking official, told Reyes "there is no plan to close the course." After Reyes blocked further tree removal on Oct. 26, Trump posted that the course would close "as scheduled" on Nov. 15. Two days later, the government filed a notice saying the course will close that day.

In her 70-page ruling, Reyes wrote: "Rarely, if ever, has the United States Department of Justice urged a federal court not to believe the sitting President."

"Let's not play games anymore"

Reyes opened Friday's hearing by reading Woodward the D.C. bar's rule on candor to the court, which bars lawyers from knowingly making false statements to a judge.

"So let's not play games anymore, Mr. Woodward," she said, according to Law&Crime. "We played games on October 19th with words, and we're not doing it today."

When Reyes asked what Trump meant when he wrote that the course "will be closed," Woodward answered: "I don't know what the president meant, and if I did, I couldn't talk about that." He cited executive privilege and added, "We're not on TV."

"That is quite an extraordinary view of executive privilege," Reyes replied.

When she put it to him that he was telling her not to believe the president, Woodward pushed back: "Certainly I didn't utter those words."

Her patience ran out when Woodward disclosed that a design submission for the course had been in the works for weeks at the National Capital Planning Commission. DOJ had not told the court. "Are you kidding me right now? Seriously, Mr. Woodward, come on," Reyes said, according to Bloomberg Law. She ordered the department to name everyone who worked on the submission.

How it got here

The case started over trees. This month, the government cut down more than 400 trees on the course with less than a day's notice to the court, NPR reported. The D.C. Preservation League sued to stop the work, and Reyes found the group is likely to win its argument that the plan skipped a required federal environmental review. Her order bars any more tree removal and requires 10 business days' notice before major changes to the park.

Trump has called Reyes "a crazed lunatic" on Truth Social, NBC News reported. The Justice Department has appealed her ruling.

What's next

The losers so far are the public: the people who play a historic public course that Trump wants to rebuild as a championship venue, and anyone who expects the government's lawyers to tell a federal judge the truth. No timeline for the inquiry was announced. We will update this story as it develops.

Sources

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