Judge Taps Former US Attorney to Probe If Lawyers Misled Court on DC Golf Course

A federal judge is turning to a former Trump-selected federal prosecutor to investigate whether his current administration’s lawyers misled the court in order to renovate a historic public golf course.

U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes issued an order on Nov. 7 saying that the court intends to appoint Jessie Liu to investigate whether the Interior Department and National Park Service officials, along with Justice Department attorneys, violated ethics rules or misled the court when they said no final plan existed for the golf course project in October despite President Donald Trump sharing a rendering of the project days later.

Liu was a former U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia from 2017 to 2020, during Trump’s first term, and held senior positions at the Justice Department.

The case Liu was plucked to probe relates to the East Potomac Golf Course project, which was set in motion in January 2026.

Nearly a month after, the DC Preservation League and two golfers sued the Interior Department and National Park Service in federal court in Washington, alleging the plans to renovate the golf course, first built in 1920, violated environmental, historic-preservation, and park laws.

The project was supposed to be brought to a halt, pending the court case, but the government cut down 430 trees on Oct. 10.

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On Oct. 13, Reyes ordered a temporary halt to tree cutting.

On Oct. 16, the government told the court that “there is no final agency action” and that “at most … the President has given preliminary thought to” plans to rebuild the East Potomac Golf Course. But the stance of the lawyers was seemingly different from Trump’s, which the court noted when the president posted a sketch of the golf course on Truth Social two days later.

“I am pleased to announce that the Department of the Interior, under the auspices of Secretary Doug Burgum, and in conjunction with famed Golf Course Architect, Tom Fazio, has developed a plan to build a World Class Championship Golf Course on the site of the current East Potomac Golf Links, located in Washington, D.C.” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Oct. 18.

The post had the seal of the President of the United States and U.S. Department of the Interior on the digital poster.

“When completed, it will be open to the Public while, at the same time, designed to the Highest Level of Golf and able to hold World Class Tournaments such as the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship, the Ryder Cup, and the Presidents Cup,” Trump added.

Trump said the current course is “old, broken, dilapidated,” and had falling, disease-infested trees.

The 15-month restoration was set to begin on Nov. 15.

“The United States Golf Association, PGA of America, and the PGA Tour have already been notified that they will soon have one of the Best and Most Spectacular Golf Courses anywhere in the World to put on their list of great places to play, and hold Major Events,” Trump wrote.

After Trump’s Truth Social post, the court immediately ordered the government to clarify if it still took the position that Trump’s plans to renovate the golf course were only a “preliminary thought.”