A federal judge directed an Interior official to turn off auto-delete settings after he said he “can’t recall” contacts with the golf architect from his tour with President Donald Trump.
U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes gave the instruction Monday to Greg Wischer, the Interior Department’s deputy chief of staff, during a court hearing, Lawfare’s Roger Parloff reported.
Reyes is overseeing a lawsuit that seeks to stop Trump’s overhaul of East Potomac Golf Links, a public course in Washington. She ordered officials, including Wischer, to testify about whether the removal of about 500 trees there this month was tied to Trump’s plans, the Guardian reported.
The government has said the trees came down under a 2019 plan written before Trump’s push to redesign the course. At an Oct. 12 hearing, Frank Lands, the National Park Service’s deputy director for operations, testified that Wischer told him to move forward with the removal.
On Monday, Wischer told the court, “I never said go execute.”
“The direction came out of your mouth,” said Abbe Lowell, an attorney for the plaintiffs.
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