Judge expected to tap former US attorney to investigate possible ‘ethical violations’ by Trump admin lawyers in case
By Michael Williams, CNN
(CNN) — A federal judge on Saturday said she intends to appoint a former US attorney to investigate whether government lawyers committed “ethical violations” in the heated, protracted legal case surrounding President Donald Trump’s desired renovation of a Washington, DC, golf course — adding another chapter to the Trump administration’s battles with the Judicial Branch.
District Judge Ana C. Reyes said in an order issued Saturday that she intended to appoint Jessie Liu, the former US Attorney for the District of Columbia, to probe the conduct of Departments of Justice and Interior lawyers in the case over objections to Trump’s planned renovation to East Potomac Golf links.
Preservationists and golfers, who worried Trump’s plan could change the identity of the course and remove a public and affordable place for DC-area golfers to play, sued to block the changes.
CNN has reached out to the Departments of Justice and Interior for comment.
In a heated hearing last month, Reyes slammed government lawyers after the administration removed, with less than a day’s notice to the court, more than 400 trees from the park earlier this month. The government claimed the removals were necessary and not tied to Trump’s desired renovation.
“More than just being upset and furious right now, I am just beyond disappointed with the government,” Reyes said during last month’s hearing.
She has repeatedly rebuked the conduct of the government in the case, said they have lost all credibility in her view and has implied that the government’s attorneys could be sanctioned.
“The question goes to whether or not I have been lied to, whether I have been lied to in declarations about the plans, whether I have been lied to about the timing of things,” Reyes said in the hearing, which lasted more than three hours. She added that she was “skeptical” of the administration’s claims that the removals had nothing to do with Trump’s renovation plans.
The government in turn has unsuccessfully sought to have Reyes remove herself from the case.
The Trump administration has said it plans to close the course for renovations by next Sunday, but the plaintiffs have asked Reyes to temporarily block those plans. A hearing is scheduled in the case on Friday.
Liu served as DC’s top prosecutor from 2017 to 2020 and previously served as an assistant US attorney in that office. She previously worked in Justice Department offices dealing with national security and civil rights.
Reyes said she would give both parties until next week to respond to her order.
The course is just one of Trump’s planned renovation projects for the DC area, which include his efforts to renovate the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, his destruction of the East Wing and construction of a new ballroom on the site, and his planned triumphal arch near Arlington National Cemetery.
While the stakes surrounding the course have been comparatively low when put up against other legal battles roiling the Trump administration, the golf course case has been one of several in which the administration has displayed disdain for, flouted or delayed in complying with court orders.
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