A federal judge in Washington is moving to launch an ethics investigation into whether Trump administration lawyers misled her court over the East Potomac Park golf course. She plans to put it in the hands of a former prosecutor Trump himself cast aside.
U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes issued a minute order on Saturday announcing that she intends to appoint Jessie K. Liu as special master. Trump nominated Liu as U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, and she held that job from 2017 to 2020.
According to the order, the investigation would examine “whether Department of Justice or Department of the Interior counsel have committed ethical violations in this matter through October 31, 2026.” It would be conducted “at the Government’s cost.”
The parties have until 10 a.m. Friday, Nov. 13, to object in writing. Reyes wrote that any government response “will be without prejudice to its argument, if any, that the Court should not conduct an ethics inquiry.”
Reyes has been pressing administration lawyers for weeks. According to The Washington Post, she opened a recent heated hearing by reading aloud the D.C. Bar’s rules on truthfulness in court.
At the center of the dispute is Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward, the Justice Department’s No. 3 official. According to WUSA9’s Eric Flack, Woodward told Reyes there was no plan to close the golf course, nine days before his own department said in writing that there was. Reyes has ordered him back into her courtroom in person on Friday.
Liu has her own complicated history with Trump. In 2019, Trump nominated her to be associate attorney general, the same post Woodward now holds. She withdrew.
Later that year, Trump nominated her to be the Treasury Department’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial crimes. In February 2020, he abruptly pulled the nomination just before she was due to testify before the Senate Banking Committee.
Axios reported at the time that a key factor was a memo from Republican activist Barbara Ledeen, a friend of former national security adviser Michael Flynn. The memo criticized Liu as insufficiently loyal. It faulted her for declining to indict former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, for not acting on criminal referrals against women who accused Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct, and for signing a sentencing filing that recommended prison time for Flynn.
As U.S. attorney, Liu also oversaw much of the prosecution of longtime Trump ally Roger Stone.
Reyes’ order also lists Liu’s long résumé at the Justice Department. She was a deputy assistant attorney general in the Civil Rights Division, counsel to the deputy attorney general on national security issues and deputy chief of staff for the National Security Division. She also served as deputy general counsel at the Treasury Department. She is now a partner at Liu Shur Kravis LLP.
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