A federal judge overseeing a legal fight over President Donald Trump’s plans to remake Washington, D.C.’s East Potomac Golf Links said Friday she would investigate whether administration officials misled the court and violated professional ethics rules during the proceedings.
U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes said the inquiry would examine whether Interior Department officials, government attorneys, and Justice Department lawyers acted in bad faith as the administration sought to move forward with its plans to overhaul the public golf course.
“The court will open a formal inquiry into whether agency officials and employees, including agency attorneys and DOJ attorneys, have made misrepresentations to the court and otherwise violated ethical rules,” Reyes said during a tense hearing.
The announcement marks a new escalation in the legal battle over Trump’s effort to transform East Potomac Golf Links into an 18-hole championship course. The dispute centers on whether the administration followed federal environmental requirements and on what officials told the court about the status of the renovation plans.
Reyes, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, issued a preliminary injunction Monday barring the administration from removing additional trees at the course. She found that the plaintiffs, including the D.C. Preservation League and two longtime golfers, were likely to succeed in arguing that the government violated federal environmental law by beginning tree removal without first conducting a required environmental review.
The administration had already removed hundreds of trees before the judge intervened, with additional removals planned ahead of construction expected to begin next month.
But Reyes has also raised questions about the administration’s repeated assertions that no finalized renovation plan existed. Interior Department officials and Justice Department attorneys have maintained that the project had not reached that stage, including in representations made to the court this month.
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That account appeared to conflict with Trump’s own public statements. In an Oct. 18 Truth Social post, the president said the Interior Department and prominent golf course architect Tom Fazio had developed a plan for a “World Class Championship Golf Course” at the site.
Reyes also questioned the administration’s suggestion that no contract had been finalized with Fazio, saying she found that claim highly unlikely. The judge said she would examine whether representations about the project and the timing of the tree removal were made in bad faith.