WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge announced Saturday that she plans to appoint a former top federal prosecutor in the nation’s capital during President Donald Trump’s first term to investigate whether she was deliberately misled by lawyers and administration officials in a lawsuit challenging one of his prized Washington construction projects, the renovation of a historic public golf course along the Potomac River.
Jessie Liu, a former U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, would examine whether Interior Department and National Park Service officials and Justice Department lawyers violated ethics or misled U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes during the case initiated in February by the DC Preservation League and two golfers.
The Republican administration plans to close the East Potomac Golf Course and Park on November 15 with plans to build a “world-class, championship-level golf course capable of hosting major events.” An injunction issued by Reyes last month temporarily prohibits the government from removing or damaging additional trees on the course and the administration must give 10 days’ written notice before making any “irreparable alteration” to any “form or feature” of the course while the lawsuit is pending.
Reyes is giving each side a chance to weigh in on his plan to appoint Liu as special master in the case. They must do so in writing by Friday, when the next court hearing in the dispute is scheduled.
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Reyes, who was appointed by Democratic President Joe Biden, wants to know whether federal officials lied about the scope of the renovation projects during months of hearings. She also wants to know if they have told the truth about the various measures they have taken, including the felling of hundreds of trees early last month. She announced at a hearing on October 30 that she was opening a formal investigation into the government’s conduct. Earlier in the case, she had rejected numerous plaintiffs’ motions to intervene, saying she trusted the government’s lawyers.
As the city’s top federal prosecutor, Liu oversaw some of the issues referred to his office by then-special counsel Robert Mueller during his investigation into possible ties between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia. Trump then named her deputy attorney general, the third-highest position in the Justice Department.
Liu withdrew after facing opposition in the Republican-led Senate Judiciary Committee because of her past membership in a lawyers’ group that supported abortion rights. She ultimately resigned from the group because, she previously said, it took left-wing positions, and she is now with her own law firm, Liu Shur Kravis LLP.
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David Super, a law professor at the Georgetown University Law Center, said the initiation of a formal investigation by a judge to examine the conduct of participants in a trial “can be a precursor to holding a person in contempt of court.”
Super said it also reflects “the difficulty she has had in determining who initiated the tree felling in defiance of assurances provided by the DOJ. She does not have time to continue holding lengthy and complex hearings and therefore wants a special master to resolve the issues.”
Reyes ordered a hearing on October 30 after several posts by Trump on Truth Social indicated that there were plans for the golf course and that construction was expected to begin on November 15. Trump said the park would be closed for 15 months while work continues.
The presidential duties, which began Oct. 18, created a tense dynamic during several court hearings that followed, when administration officials could not confirm the existence of the plans questioned by Reyes. She finally asked who she should trust. The Justice Department filed a notice Oct. 28 saying the plans were real.
Bedayn reported from Austin, Texas.
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