Judge moves to appoint ex-prosecutor Jessie Liu to probe Trump officials over golf course case

A special master for the golf course case

On Saturday, 7 November, Judge Ana Reyes of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia told the parties in the lawsuit that she intends to name Jessie Liu as a special master. Liu, a former U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, would examine whether lawyers at the Justice Department and officials at the Interior Department and National Park Service violated ethics rules or misled the court while the case proceeds. According to the brief order, the review would test whether counsel at either department broke ethical rules in handling the February suit brought by the DC Preservation League and two golfers against changes to the East Potomac Golf Links. The proposal is the first step in what could become a lengthy inquiry into the methods the administration has used to get around the courts while carrying out Trump's renovation projects in the capital.

What prompted the inquiry

The administration plans to shut the course and park on 15 November so it can build a championship-level course. Earlier in the case, Reyes had said she no longer had confidence that the Justice Department was acting in good faith, and she had turned away the plaintiffs' repeated requests to step into the case, relying instead on the government lawyers. Her position shifted when signs emerged that the Justice Department and at least one Interior Department official had kept from the court plans to turn much of the park into a championship-level track, even though she had issued orders. An injunction she issued in October temporarily bars the government from removing or harming more trees on the course and requires ten days' written notice before any irreparable change to its features. The judge also wants to know whether officials were candid about the steps they took, including the cutting of hundreds of trees in early October.

Liu's background

The New York Times says Liu led the U.S. attorney's office in Washington for most of Trump's first term, while POLITICO puts her time as U.S. attorney at about a year and a half. Earlier in her career she worked as a federal prosecutor in the same office during George W. Bush's administration and held senior Justice Department posts, including roles in the national security and civil rights divisions. Trump nominated her in 2019 for associate attorney general, the department's third-ranking post, but Senate conservatives resisted, pointing to a role she had held more than a decade earlier in a women lawyers' group that opposed Justice Samuel Alito's confirmation and backed abortion rights, and the nomination was withdrawn. She is now a named partner at Liu Shur Kravis, a Washington firm, and one of her partners, Jonathan Kravis, resigned from the Justice Department in protest over its handling of the false-statements case against longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone. As the city's chief federal prosecutor she handled some matters that Robert Mueller, then special counsel, sent to her office.

What happens next

Both sides must file written responses to the plan by Friday, 13 November, the date of the next scheduled hearing. The planned closure of the course and park on 15 November falls two days after that hearing. The order states an intention to make the appointment, not a completed one. Democrats are set to take control of Congress after the midterm elections, and Democratic lawmakers have said they will oppose Trump's efforts to leave a personal mark on the capital. The inquiry could run for a long time, covering tactics the administration has used to get around the courts for Trump's Washington renovation projects.