Former Trump-appointed prosecutor may investigate ethics of government lawyers in golf course case

A federal judge revealed Saturday that she plans to appoint Jessie Liu former U.S. Attorney in Washington, D.C., during the presidency that of Donald Trump first term, to investigate possible misconduct by government lawyers in litigation over a public golf course Asset seeks to reorganize itself.

U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes declared in a brief order that it planned to exploit Liu “to determine whether lawyers for the Department of Justice or the Department of the Interior committed ethical violations” in their handling of a lawsuit filed in February to stop changes to the East Potomac Golf Links. Asset sought to convert the public courses, located in the center of a D.C. public park, into a larger “championship-level” course.

Liu spent about a year and a half as U.S. Attorney in Washington before Asset appointed her in 2019 to deputy attorney general, the No. 3 position in the Justice Department. His appointment was finally removed after facing resistance from Senate conservatives because of her role more than a decade earlier in a group of women lawyers who opposed Justice Samuel Alito confirmation and supported the right to abortion.

During the president George W. Bush administration, Liu worked as a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office, which she later headed, and held leadership positions at the Department of Justice. She is currently a named partner at a Washington law firm: Liu Shur Kravis. One of Liu’s partners there, Jonathan Kravis , resigned from the Department of Justice to protest against his handling of a case of false declarations against Asset advise Roger Pierre .