The media focus on President Donald Trump trying to get away with ANOTHER FLEX , using his office’s power to challenge a Federal Judge….
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The Hill….
A federal judge refused the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) demand to step aside from a key hearing on Monday over the future of East Potomac Park, which President Trump wants to renovate into a championship-style golf course.
The Trump administration has accused U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes of bias after she yelled at a government attorney last week to express disappointment that hundreds of trees were cut down at the park without additional notice.
The DOJ accused her of “violating the basic norms” that a judge be fair and impartial.
“It is easy to weaponize selective quotations to bring a baseless recusal motion. But it is much harder to meet the demanding legal standard against a full record,” Reyes wrote in a 13-page opinion denying the effort late Sunday.
“By any objective measure, the Government fails to meet the standard for recusal,” she continued.
Reyes, an appointee of former President Biden who serves on the federal bench in the nation’s capital, oversees a lawsuit brought by a preservationist group and individual golfers.
They challenge Trump’s desire for a massive renovation at East Potomac Park that would shift it into a championship-style golf course, saying the project is unlawful. The president unveiled a new plan for the site Sunday….
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President Trump wrote on social media on Monday that work was “scheduled to begin IMMEDIATELY” to overhaul a Washington golf course, escalating tensions with a federal judge who has prohibited the administration from cutting trees at the site.
Mr. Trump’s post came ahead of a morning showdown in federal court over the fate of the course.
Upon learning last week that the Interior Department had cleared hundreds of trees from the course, apparently in preparation for larger changes, the judge, Ana C. Reyes, had prohibited parks officials from taking down more trees until Oct. 26. She also requested that top administration officials appear at the hearing to discuss the issue.
On Sunday, Mr. Trump announced that the course, East Potomac Golf Links, would close for a 14-month renovation on Nov. 15, before returning to social media Monday morning to castigate the judge and announce the project would move forward.
He described Judge Reyes, an appointee of President Joseph R. Biden Jr., as “a crazed lunatic whose courthouse tapes will reveal, may be insane.” The Justice Department had requested that audio be released of a hearing she conducted last week, in which she angrily took the Trump administration to task for removing trees with minimal notice…..
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