WASHINGTON
Federal Judge Ana C. Reyes sharply rebuked administration lawyers Monday over what she saw as an attempt to defy her court order blocking a major renovation of the East Potomac Golf Links. The judge ordered a 24-hour halt to tree removal work that began over the weekend without adequate notice.
The conflict centers on a gap between what government attorneys told the court and what President Trump has publicly announced. Administration lawyers said the renovation was still in its conceptual stage. On Sunday, Trump posted detailed plans for a new championship-style golf course.
"Do I believe the president of the United States or do I believe you?" Judge Reyes asked from the bench during a tense three-hour hearing.
The judge laid out the contradiction plainly: "I have, on the one hand, the president of the United States saying to the American public three times now, I think, in the last two days, there is a final plan to redesign the golf course. Then I have you all telling me and witnesses saying what they're saying, that there's no final plan. Which is it?"
Trump wants to convert the three existing courses at East Potomac Golf Links into a single championship-style facility. The project has drawn legal challenges from a D.C. preservation group and two individuals who filed suit in February against the U.S. Department of Interior and the National Park Service, arguing the renovated course would significantly raise tee-time costs and contradict the facility's original purpose as "open to all people."
The golf course sits on a peninsula between the Potomac River and the Washington Channel.
In May, Judge Reyes issued an order requiring the administration to notify the court of any substantial construction work, specifically the removal of more than 10 trees. The order was not followed.
Government officials notified the court late Friday, Oct. 9—just before a holiday weekend—of plans to remove "up to 529 trees" in phases. Bulldozers began felling hundreds of trees the next day.
During the emergency hearing last week, Judge Reyes criticized government lawyers for failing to provide adequate prior notice. She rejected the argument that tree felling constituted routine maintenance.
"I am beyond disappointed by the action," she said. "I do not know how I could have made it any plainer that I did not want what was to happen, to happen. I have given the government every single benefit of the doubt that it would not do precisely what it has done."
The hearing concluded without a final decision, leaving the renovation in legal limbo.
