Judge Opens Misconduct Inquiry Into Trump's DOJ Over Golf Course Lies

U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes held a fourth hearing Friday, Oct. 30, in the lawsuit over Trump's plan to redevelop the East Potomac Park golf course, after Justice Department lawyers acknowledged for the first time, in a Wednesday filing, that a closure and renovation plan exists -- despite telling Reyes in earlier hearings that no plan was final. Reyes questioned Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward Jr. for roughly four hours about why the plan wasn't disclosed sooner, then said she would open a formal inquiry into whether DOJ and Interior Department officials and attorneys misrepresented facts to the court or violated ethics rules.

Reyes said the inquiry may be led by a special master with "full investigatory powers," letting an outside judicial officer examine whether government lawyers knowingly misled the court while litigation was ongoing -- a question about the integrity of the judicial process itself, separate from how the golf-course dispute is ultimately resolved.

Reyes has not yet named a special master and said she would conduct the inquiry herself if the government objects to her choice. The underlying case remains pending; Reyes had previously ordered a halt to tree-clearing that the government has appealed.