A federal judge on Friday confronted a Justice Department lawyer who invoked "executive privilege" to avoid explaining President Donald Trump's public statements about closing a Washington, D.C., golf course — making clear she had lost trust in the truthfulness of the government appearing before her.

The hearing opened with Judge Reyes asking whether the Justice Department needed to "correct the record" about any possible misstatements, and it did not get much better from there.

According to courts and justice reporter Chris Geidner, who publishes the Law Dork Substack, Judge Reyes called Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward Jr. to the stand to determine who ordered the government to circumvent her previous court ruling.

Reyes began by asking Woodward about Trump's statements on Truth Social saying the course would be closed down on Nov. 15.

"There was not a plan to close the course on Oct. 26," Woodward said.

"You are telling me, even now, that there was no plan even on Oct. 26?" she questioned.

Woodward said he could not "hypothesize."

"I'm not hypothesizing. I'm reading what he wrote," the judge shot back, and she read the Truth Social post aloud.

After conferring with others at the lawyer's desk, the ultimate answer referenced a "directive," but Woodward said he remained "reticent to put meaning" behind the president's words.

The judge asked: "You 'cannot say' what the president meant when he said the course will close on Nov. 15?"

Woodward agreed, saying the matter fell within "executive privilege."

"He posted it publicly!" the judge exclaimed, going on to call it an "extraordinary view of executive privilege."

As outlined by the Constitution, executive privilege is the president's claimed authority to withhold certain confidential executive-branch information from Congress or the courts, especially communications with senior advisers. It is meant to protect candid decision-making, but it is not absolute: courts can require disclosure when another branch's need for the information — such as in a criminal case — outweighs the confidentiality interest.

As AlterNet previously reported, the ordeal began on Oct. 12, when the federal court brought the White House into court after the government chopped down more than 430 trees on Hains Point, home to the public East Potomac Golf Course as well as a biking and walking trail and other parks. The judge had told the government that she was to be notified before anything major was done to the island.

As Snopes reported on Oct. 16, that did not happen. Instead, "the government only [notified] the court minutes prior to close of business on a holiday weekend."

This article is based on reporting by Alternet.