US judge orders ethics inquiry into Trump lawyers over golf course case

What the report says

A federal judge in Washington, DC, has opened a formal ethics inquiry into whether US government lawyers misled the court in a dispute over plans to renovate the East Potomac Golf Links, a historic public golf course in the capital. Judge Ana Reyes of the US District Court for the District of Columbia said she would appoint a special master to examine whether officials withheld information or made misleading claims. The inquiry is limited to professional and ethical conduct and does not itself decide whether any misconduct occurred.

The dispute has intensified as the Trump administration has pushed ahead with a plan to alter the site. Reyes pressed Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward Jr. during a hearing on Friday, comparing his statements with President Donald Trump’s social media posts about closing the course for renovations. The judge also raised questions about whether a National Park Service official was told to leave details out of a court filing. Earlier this year, she ordered the government to give advance notice of major construction work and later expanded an injunction after more than 400 trees were removed.

According to Al Jazeera, the Justice Department recently told the court that the National Park Service would submit a design by golf course architect Tom Fazio to a planning commission, after previously declining to confirm such plans. The DC Preservation League, which brought the lawsuit in February, says the project could violate environmental rules and harm a historically significant public space. The case is one of two related legal challenges over Trump-backed development plans in Washington, DC.