A federal judge directed an Interior official to turn off automatic deletion after he claimed 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 in a live blog of the hearing.
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 tree removal there this month, which was set to take down more than 500 trees, 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.
“Yeah, if we got compliance and all that, yes,” Wischer replied.
Lowell then showed Wischer photos that appeared to come from a June 28 tour of the course, Parloff reported. Trump toured the course that day with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, aides, and golf course architect Tom Fazio and his son, Gavin Fazio, the Associated Press reported.
Wischer said he believed he was the man in a polo shirt and identified Lands and Tom Fazio in the group, according to Parloff.
Trump wrote Sunday on Truth Social that the Interior Department developed the new course plan “in conjunction with famed Golf Course Architect, Tom Fazio.”
In a second photo, Wischer was carrying “various conceptual proposals” for “a golf course,” he testified.
“He brought those himself,” Wischer said when Reyes asked how he received them.
According to Parloff’s report, Reyes asked Wischer whether he had contacted Tom Fazio about the course.
“Can’t recall. Happy to look,” Wischer replied.
Reyes instructed Wischer “not to delete anything and to turn off auto-deletes,” Parloff reported.
Wischer added that he received “other docs as well,” including “photos of bad trees” and “prior cleanup,” Parloff said. Reyes then asked who had organized the June 28 outing.
“The White House. Not me asking,” Wischer said.
“I can’t,” he said when she asked him to name the White House staffer who reached out to him.
“No, but lots of calls,” Wischer said when asked whether he had received emails about the trip.
“So far as I can recall, it was, this is happening. We need you at this place at this time,” he said when asked about any planning meetings beforehand.
Reyes also asked whether he began studying the 2019 plan because of his meeting with Trump.
“No. Just wanted to clean up course in absence of finalized concept,” Wischer said.
Later in the hearing, Wischer testified that Gavin Fazio sent the course design Trump posted on Sunday to his personal phone, according to Parloff. Reyes told him not to delete things from that phone.
“Not a lot,” Wischer said when Reyes asked how many renderings Gavin Fazio had texted him.
“Not that I recall,” he said when Lowell asked whether he had talked with Gavin Fazio about removing trees. Asked whether he had discussed removing hundreds of trees with the Fazios, Wischer said, “No. Just designs.”
At one point, Reyes referenced Trump’s Truth Social post from that morning calling her a “crazed lunatic.” “I won’t ask if you think I’m crazy, lunatic, or insane,” she said, according to Parloff.
Reyes released Wischer but said he could be called back to testify and not to discuss his testimony with anyone other than his lawyers.