2 Trump attempts to change the D.C. landscape play out in the courts as midterms near

A federal judge in Washington said Friday she will begin a formal inquiry into whether Trump administration lawyers and agency officials misled the court in litigation over a plan to close and rebuild a public golf course. Judge Ana Reyes will appoint a special master to examine, among other things, whether a National Park Service official was told to leave details out of a court declaration. Until this month she had turned down plaintiffs' requests to intervene, saying she trusted government attorneys. Her view shifted after Donald Trump posted on Truth Social about construction starting Nov. 15 and a 15-month closure, while officials could not confirm any such plans in court. The Justice Department then filed notice that the plans were real, including a rendering by Tom Fazio. Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward Jr. faced pointed questioning, according to PBS NewsHour.

Down the hall, Judge Tanya Chutkan weighed a request to block a 250-foot arch project, which the government hoped to finalize Nov. 5. Government attorney Robert Stander called it a high priority. Chutkan noted that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin had, for the first time, described the arch as a defense matter, though Stander offered no details.

Summarized by PolitiKool from PBS NewsHour’s reporting. Read the full story at PBS NewsHour →