Judge probes DOJ on DC golf course shutdown; Early voting wraps up

Welcome into the DMV zone. We're taking you behind the scenes of all the big things Fox 5 is working on in real time on this Friday. I'm Huma Bash. Thank you so much for being with us. Let's jump right in with weekend weather, Halloween weather. Everyone wants to know, is it going to stay as beautiful as it has all week? Let's take a live look out at our camera in Reston station. Blue skies as far as the eye can see. Caitlin, I am loving Every single second of this. This is the kind of fall we love. It has been an amazing couple of weeks. And today, it's really warm. Parts of the area have hit 80. Oh, my gosh. Not like typical late October. But, no, I do want to say by tomorrow, much cooler. Yeah. So, it's still nice, but we won't be sweating in our costumes. And you may even need a layer or two as we get past sunset tomorrow evening. So, clouds will be on the rise. Temperatures will fall. Halloween is still dry. Trick-or-treating still looks great. But I know today, this afternoon, is really a stunner out there. There with all the abundant sunshine and the leaves are changing it looks beautiful as we take a live look from Reston station and it will be a great weekend for all activities and we'll go through all of them for you starting off with your Friday afternoon Halloween Eve. Schools, very busy with Halloween parties. Maybe you are, too. There's a lot going on tonight. It's 76 degrees at this hour under sunny skies. Nice breeze out of the north and west, too. So that front has passed us by, but temperatures are still quite warm. In fact, we're at 80 Quantico and Fredericksburg, 78 in Leonardtown, 76 in Baltimore, 75 at Dulles and 72 in Winchester. Just beautiful. Satellite and radar all quiet. Again, we are not tracking rain for days and days. That is not coming until later next week. So if you're in costume tonight, this is the mild one for sure. I mean, at 5 o'clock, we're still in the 70s. Falling through the 60s after sunset, but a warm feel for the second to last day here in October. Overnight tonight, that cooler air settles in, so we're back into the low to mid 40s to start off your Halloween. It does look like we'll begin with sunshine. Clouds will roll in in the afternoon, but again, staying dry and, you know, appropriately cooler for trick-or-treat and Halloween festivities tomorrow evening. November begins on Sunday, so does standard time. We've been talking about this all week, but another reminder that the timing has synced up perfectly this year because Halloween's on a Saturday, and after all the festivities, an extra hour of sleep will be much needed. Tomorrow's planner shows sun giving way to just a little bit of late cloud cover. Notice those temperatures only in the low to mid-60s. Today, we've been in the upper 70s, so it will definitely feel cooler. 63 for the high Saturday, and then same thing on Sunday. Clouds giving way to maybe a little bit of late-day sunshine. Staying dry, 64 degrees. So first up, with the sunset change, yes, we fall back. Sun goes down tomorrow night at 6.08. So if you begin the trick-or-treating, especially with the little ones, 4 or 5 o'clock, you've got a lot of time before the sun goes down. And then, even so, it's not like the next day where the sun sets at 5.07 p.m. We then begin those 5 p.m. sunsets, which eventually become 4 p.m. sunsets. Well, in the 4 p.m. hour, not 4-0-0. All right, we also have a big football game this weekend. Sunday night with the Eagles in town against the Commanders. Kickoffs at 8.30. This is like three and a half hours after the sun sets. So even the tailgating, I mean, early tailgating, you're in the dry, sunny weather. But then it gets dark quickly. It'll be chilly. What normal chill for November 1st. Temperatures in the 50s and staying dry for our Sunday night. Now, we know the rain's holding off until late next week. As a result, we will stay very warm. It has been a warm fall ever since we started the season. Meteorological fall September 1st. It's been very, very warm. November is going to continue that trend, at least for now. High pressure is very strong next week. It's going to take a while until some moisture can get in here. And interestingly, it almost looks like our storm coming out of the Atlantic here could have some tropical origins. But regardless, whether it's just the cold front or the cold front paired with an extra tropical low, rain is likely by Thursday. But again, that's Thursday. The Thursday-Friday time frame is what we're nailing for the best chance and the next chance for any rain. And by then it will have been about three weeks. So much needed. There's your seven-day forecast. So we get back to work and school, and we're still seeing 70s on the map here in November. Chance of rain showing up there by next Thursday. So Halloween, I mean, really, Homa, all good. Not as warm as today, no, but, you know, perfect for costumes that have a couple layers on them. Yes, couldn't ask for better. Election Day looks good. I mean, the entire next week, we will take it for this time of year. The clock's turning back, not so much, but we'll deal. That hits you hard. Yeah. I mean, Monday will be rough for numerous reasons for everybody. It'll be rough for everybody. I mean, we literally have Halloween, clock's going back, Commander's Sunday night, so just expect to be tired on Monday. All the things. Okay. Caitlin, thank you. Moving on to topic number two, a federal judge is opening an investigation into potential DOJ misconduct when it comes to the Trump administration's plans to close East Potomac Park golf course in D.C. The heated courtroom exchange centers on whether government attorneys were transparent with the court about the closure and whether they may have crossed ethical lines. So joining us now, judiciary reporter for Bloomberg Law, Suzanne Moniak. Suzanne, thank you so much for being with us. Thank you so much for having me. Okay, so if you've been in this court, which I have several times during this case, as it has been ongoing when it comes to East Potomac Park, things get very heated very quickly because you have one side saying, the government saying, we're not doing anything wrong, we're abiding by all rules, and the judge and the plaintiffs in this case saying, you guys are doing things that are wrong and you're doing it without telling people in the right way. What was the latest that happened today? That's right. There have been a number of tense exchanges throughout this case, and we saw them come to a head yet again today when, as you mentioned, Judge Ana Reyes ordered an ethics inquiry into whether government lawyers at the Justice Department and other agencies may have made false statements in court. They are defending against a case challenging Donald Trump's proposed renovations to the East Potomac Park golf course. And the judge wants to look into essentially what the government knew. And when the government made statements in court in the past saying that there were no plans to close the course, they then reversed course and said that now there are. Trump, of course, has announced that it will be closing in November. So November 15th is the date that the president has given for shutting down this golf course. And again, Judge Ana Reyes is saying, wait, wait, wait, you can't do that. I already told you you can't have construction. You can't be cutting down the trees. Well, the trees have been cut down, many of them, hundreds of them. In fact, the golf course is looming to be shut down. I guess to clear up for people, what can the president do without congressional approval or without judge approval as things keep moving forward? That's really what's at the heart of this case. The D.C. Preservation League and two Washington area golfers have argued that the president can't just fully destroy the golf course and build a new one without this kind of, you know, without legal authorization. Specifically, they're arguing without undergoing environmental, legally required environmental reviews. And so in this case, the judge has already found that. She finds that the groups are likely to succeed on that claim and has ordered the government not to remove any trees for the duration of the case and to give the court 10 business days notice for making any irreversible changes or closing the court. Of course, they've already given notice that they plan to close the course. OK, so at this point, is the course closing on November 15th or could that still change? I never want to say that nothing could change in court today. Stanley Woodward, third-ranking official of the Justice Department, kind of even made a point of saying we're scheduled to close, like we are intending to close, but of course made a point of noting that he would not violate a court ruling if the court were to say that they can't. There hasn't been a request for that yet, but I think one would be likely to come from the challengers in this case who may seek as soon as next week to block the closure that's scheduled for next month. Okay, so two weeks from that proposed closure and we'll see what happens. happens as this case continues to move through federal courts. Suzanne Moniak, thank you so much. Thank you again. All right, moving on to topic number three, the clock is ticking for early voters across the DMV. Early voting wraps up tomorrow in Virginia, while D.C. voters have until Sunday to cast their ballots ahead of Tuesday's midterms. In Virginia, polls for early voting will be open Saturday, with some polls open from 8.30 to 5 p.m. Just make sure you're double-checking with your locality. Times are kind of different some places. This is in D.C. Early voting centers will be open from 8 p.m. 8.30 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday. If you're voting by mail in D.C., Maryland and Virginia, those have to be postmarked on or by Election Day, which is November 3rd, of course. A reminder, just because you put a ballot in the mailbox on Election Day does not guarantee it will be postmarked on that day. So just some key things to keep in mind. Joining us now, Virginia Public Radio reporter Michael Pope to talk midterm elections in Virginia. Michael, good to see you, my friend. It's great to be back. Okay, what are we seeing in terms of early voting? People go into the polls as early voting wraps up in the commonwealth. Record amounts of early voting. So there's a great website that tracks early voting data, the Virginia Public Access Project. And one thing that they do from a data standpoint that's really helpful is they compare the amount of early voting at this point in this election versus early voting at this point in previous elections. So if you... Take away the presidential years and compare this to previous midterms. You will see the current amount of early voting way exceeds the voting for previous midterms. In fact, the last it's more than double the last midterm. It's actually right up around presidential level. So clearly this is an effort. This is an election that's capturing the attention of voters and really pushing them to the polls to cast an early ballot in this election. And what specifically is driving folks to it? Is it issues? Is it people? Is it candidates? Is it just in response to President Trump and the current administration? All of that. I mean, certainly people in the Washington, D.C. region are driven by national politics. But even outside of that, you know, we're seeing data centers as being something that people are concerned about. Your energy bills going through the roof because of data centers. So these are kind of interrelated. Also, I mean, you could put all of that under the umbrella of affordability. And so these are all issues that are motivating voters to head to the polls. And, you know, people will We'll always focus on the congressional elections, which, of course, are important. And Democrats are trying to flip three Republican districts. But voters will also have local elections here. And so your listeners in Fairfax City will have local elections. Arlington, Leesburg, Percival, Herndon. I mean, at the local level, we will also see a lot of very important elections on the ballot in this election. And those are hugely important. And I'm glad that you bring those up because those are the ones that are most likely going to impact your day to day lives. So if you have not gotten out in Virginia, if you haven't early voted yet, if you're waiting until Election Day, please do cast your ballot. It is so important. Like you said, record numbers this year. So it seems like people are heeding that advice to get out and make their voices heard. And we will see what happens come Tuesday. Michael Pope with Virginia Public Radio. Thank you so much, as always, for your insight. Thank you. All right, we're going to take a quick break. We have lots more to come here on the DMV Zone on your Friday. Stay with us.