“Do I Believe the President, or Do I Believe You?” — Judge Grills DOJ Over Trump Golf Course Overhaul

A federal judge on Monday pressed Trump administration lawyers over their claim that plans to overhaul a historic Washington golf course are not yet final — challenging that account against President Donald Trump’s own weekend social-media announcements that work would start “immediately.” The Trump golf course fight, over the 106-year-old East Potomac Park links in the nation’s capital, has become the latest courtroom flashpoint in the president’s campaign to reshape Washington’s landmarks.

U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes questioned the administration during a hearing that stretched well into Monday afternoon — more than five hours, with some accounts describing over seven hours of testimony — without issuing a ruling. Reyes last week ordered a temporary halt to redevelopment plans until at least October 26, after scolding the government for starting a large-scale tree removal at the course over a holiday weekend while giving the court and the plaintiffs little notice.

Trump Golf Course Plans vs. Court Freeze

On Sunday, Trump posted on Truth Social that Interior Secretary Doug Burgum “has developed a plan to build a World Class Championship Golf Course” on the site of the current East Potomac Golf Links, adding that the park would close starting November 15 for 15 months of work. In a post on Monday, Trump said the work would start “immediately.” Hours before the hearing, he also wrote that Judge Reyes is a “crazed lunatic,” according to Bloomberg Law.

Inside the courtroom, Justice Department lawyer Robert Stander insisted the administration was merely “in the process of planning.” Pressed by Reyes on whether that meant Trump’s post was incorrect, Stander responded that the president’s post was “true with a caveat, that the plan is not final.”

“Do I believe the president of the United States, or do I believe you?” Reyes asked — one of several testy exchanges, per the Associated Press.

Reyes noted that the government had previously told the court the renovation was still in its conceptual stage, yet the president had now described a finished plan to the American public three times in two days. “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,” she said, according to NPR. “Then I have you all telling me … that there’s no final plan. Which is it?”

She also rejected the administration’s comparison of the president’s posts to executive orders, saying it did not answer her original question. Asked whether there was a contract between the government and golf course architect Tom Fazio — named in Trump’s Sunday post — the government lawyers said there was not yet one, after conferring.

The Tree-Cutting Spree and the Holiday Weekend

Much of Monday’s hearing focused on the urgency of a tree removal that the government said was routine. “There is no universe in which all of this coincidentally happened all at the same time,” Reyes said of the tree-cutting spree, challenging the administration’s contention that it did not indicate the project was moving forward despite the court order.

Witnesses at the hearing — Greg Wischer, deputy chief of staff at the Interior Department, and acting National Park Service director Jessica Bowron — testified that they had only learned in September of a 2019 National Park Service Cultural Landscape Report that led to the tree cutting. The Park Service confirmed in a filing that it had marked more than 500 trees for removal as the administration weighed a renovation. Earlier, the judge had rebuked the government for removing “up to 529 trees” in phases with short notice, despite her May order requiring notice of substantial construction work.

Plaintiffs’ attorneys — representing the D.C. Preservation League and two golfers — have asked Reyes to extend her temporary pause. They argue the work is inflicting irreversible damage and that the redevelopment would violate the congressional act that created the park where the course is located, a facility long intended to be “open to all people” at accessible tee-time costs.

Tense Clash Between Judge and Justice Department

The hearing grew tense from the start. Reyes opened by asking whether any other government attorneys in the room, “as officers of the court,” would certify that everything in a Sunday filing was truthful and legally sound — the filing in which Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward argued the park plan was not final. Reyes also rejected the administration’s request that she recuse herself from the case over alleged partiality, writing that the government had failed “by any objective measure” to meet the standard for recusal.

In a separate flare-up, Reyes at one point ordered the DOJ to refile a brief with the names of the career attorneys who stood behind it, after Woodward signed the Sunday filing alone — then withdrew the order after a break, calling the reversal “the proper course.” “We’ve all got better things to be spending our time on,” she said.

Trump, for his part, defended the project in his post: “The United States Department of Interior wants to take a terrible and very unsafe golf course, and make it into a great, safe, and prestigious golf course. They have an absolute right to do so. It’s as simple as that!”

The Monday hearing ended without a decision. Reyes said she is highly unlikely to tell the government to stop all activities in the park, but she is “not going to blindly trust the government either.”

Related coverage: Trump’s broader campaign to remake Washington landmarks and the latest from the White House.

FAQ: Trump Golf Course Overhaul

What is the Trump golf course plan?

The Trump administration wants to redevelop East Potomac Park and its golf course in Washington, D.C. — turning three existing courses into a single “championship-style” golf course, with the park slated to close November 15 for 15 months, according to Trump’s social-media posts. The government says the plan is not yet final.

Why did the judge freeze the work?

Judge Ana Reyes ordered a halt until at least October 26 after the government began large-scale tree removal over a holiday weekend with little notice to the court or plaintiffs, while she had required advance notice of substantial work. She said the cutting suggested the project was advancing despite the dispute.

Who is suing to stop the renovation?

The D.C. Preservation League and two individual golfers, who argue the work would cause irreversible damage and violate the congressional act that created the park, originally meant to be “open to all people.”

What did the judge decide on Monday?

Reyes ended the hearing without a ruling, rejecting a recusal bid from the Justice Department and withdrawing a side order about DOJ brief signatures. She signaled she will not halt all park activity but will not take the government’s assurances at face value either.