Judge warns Trump’s DOJ about consequences of ‘document destruction’ over DC golf course plans

Donald Trump’s administration could face contempt hearings or sanctions if a federal judge finds evidence that officials destroyed documents related to the president’s Washington, D.C. renovation projects, including plans to close and renovate a public golf course.U.S. District Judge Ana C. Reyes — who is overseeing the escalating legal battle over Trump’s plans to turn East Potomac Golf Links and a surrounding park into a “World Class, championship-level golf course” — is prepared to launch those hearings in a “zeptosecond.”A zeptosecond, she explained, is the shortest amount of time ever measured.“If I find credible evidence of any document destruction, I will start proceedings on sanctions or contempt within a zeptosecond,” she said during Friday’s hearing.Her warning followed whistleblower reports to Democratic members of Congress that administration officials are allegedly destroying documents related to the president’s pet projects. Democrats have called on administration officials to “preserve existing records collections and productions” and “identify and recover any deleted information” and “suspend any destruction and deletion practices.”A federal judge overseeing a legal battle over Trump’s plans to close and renovate the East Potomac Golf Links and surrounding park has threatened contempt hearings if she finds evidence that officials destroyed documents (Getty)The court case escalates a fight over what could be Trump’s biggest D.C. makeover project yet, putting the future of the nearly 400-acre public park at risk.But what began as yet another lawsuit to stop one of the president’s D.C.-area renovations has turned into a volatile legal battle between the executive branch and high-level administration officials against the judiciary.Preservation groups and golfers have sued the administration to stop the park’s closure, arguing that the administration’s rationale — park safety — is merely a pretext for closing the popular park to transform it into an exclusive, high-end course.Last month, Trump announced on his Truth Social account that the park will close “immediately” for “approximately 15 months” for renovations.Administration officials insisted in court for weeks that there were no imminent plans to close the park despite the president's Truth Social announcements outlining his vision for the project.But officials finally admitted in court filings last month that the president’s plans to close the park by November 15 are, in fact, in the works.The president said on Truth Social last month that the Interior Department has “an absolute right” to “take a terrible and very unsafe golf course, and make it into a great, safe, and prestigious golf course.”“The judge on the case is a crazed lunatic whose courthouse tapes will reveal, may be insane?” Trump wrote.The Justice Department’s admission that the park is closing, despite previous testimony, had stunned Judge Reyes, who recently appointed a former federal prosecutor to investigate the government’s conduct in the case and determine whether officials were lying or violated ethics rules.On Friday, Justice Department officials wrote in court filings that there is “no reasonable basis for conducting an ethics inquiry in this case.”The president has ordered the ‘immediate’ closure of the park, by November 15, to begin renovations to turn the course into a ‘World Class’ championship facility (Getty)The Trump administration has argued that deteriorating conditions within the park, including a seawall that park officials have issued warnings about for more than a decade, necessitate its closure. The National Links Trust, the nonprofit that runs the parks, will also cease operating East Potomac after this weekend, leaving the park without an operator to run the course.But Reyes, who has repeatedly grilled government attorneys throughout the legal battle, is extremely skeptical that the alleged safety issues require the park’s immediate closure.She noted that thousands of runners participated in last month’s Marine Corps Marathon, without any safety warnings, while members of the public continue to use the course and surrounding parkland every day.During Friday’s hearing, she repeatedly asked whether the designs submitted to federal agencies are final — and if the government would even reconsider them, if tens of thousands of people spoke out against it during the public comment process.“I take it you are aware that there is some controversy in this design,” Reyes said. “People in D.C. are very upset about this design.”She asked people in the courtroom to raise their hands if they oppose the project.“Turn around, sir,” she told Adam Gustafson, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Energy and Natural Resources Division.Among the more than 100 people in the room, the “vast majority” raised their hand, Reyes said.