In the filing, the department added that any direct conversations with Trump would be shielded from disclosure by constitutional privileges, and argued that redesigning the public course is exempt from review under the Administrative Procedure Act, comparing the project to mowing the lawn. Reyes demanded the explanation hours after Trump posted a Tom Fazio design that would close the 106 year old facility on Nov. 15 for 15 months of renovations to turn the 36 hole complex into an 18 hole championship venue for events such as the US Open and Ryder Cup, eliminating its mini golf course, the Ohio Drive loop road around Hains Point, and surrounding bike paths and picnic areas.
The dispute stems from an Oct. 10 operation in which National Park Service crews cut down 430 of 729 trees slated for removal at the park following a 4:55 p.m. Friday notice ahead of a holiday weekend. Reyes halted further tree cutting through Oct. 26 and ordered Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward, who signed an Oct. 16 motion seeking to disqualify her from the case over her courtroom rebuke of government lawyers, to appear at a 10 a.m. evidentiary hearing on Monday alongside Interior Department Deputy Chief of Staff Gregory Wischer and Park Service official Jessica Bowron.