We have a president who not only loves golf, he knows it - from inside the wrappings on that little boinky, dimpled ball to every blade of grass in the turf it lands on.
The man loves golf courses as much as playing on them.
President Trump already had plans for a public golf course that had been quietly mildewing away from benign neglect right in the heart of Washington, D.C. - the East Potomac Park Golf Course.
It is a goat track and always has been.
— Shipwreckedcrew (@shipwreckedcrew) October 19, 2026
The problem with his plans was his ballroom nemesis, U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes, who told the president all the way back in May, after she got whiff of his renovation itch, not to touch a leaf on a tree without consulting her.
A federal judge on Monday warned Justice Department lawyers of "serious consequences" if the Trump administration begins major work at a public golf course in the District of Columbia without getting approval and notifying the court in advance.
During a tense conference on Monday morning, U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes demanded she be updated if work begins at the East Potomac Golf Course, and raised concerns about claims made by the Trump administration regarding the state of the course.
"Let's just say, given some issues around the district recently, I would have a particular concern that we not ask first and ask forgiveness later, because that's not going to be acceptable," she said.
Department of Justice lawyers couldn't quite understand the alarm local preservationists were raising because, as far as they knew, it was routine maintenance. Getting rid of old trees, etc. As hard as it might be for the obstructionists to swallow, that does have to be done on golf courses.
...During the conference, a DOJ lawyer argued that the work done to the course was limited to identifying dead or dying trees for removal, which appeared to resolve some of Judge Reyes' concerns. DOJ lawyers said they were unaware of reported fundraising by Trump to renovate the course -- though they said such communications would be "very sensitive issues of executive limited privilege" -- and Kevin Greiss, the Superintendent of National Mall and Memorial Parks, said he was unaware of any closures.
The judge got a note about 'signs' saying there had been 'closures' and lost her mind on the DOJ guy. He, in turn, had to check with the groundskeeper.
Again, dire consequences were threatened if one leaf came off a tree.
...While Greiss checked with his maintenance staff to confirm if the course was open, Judge Reyes warned DOJ lawyers of "serious consequences" if major construction begins without appropriate notice.
"I'm going to say this one more time, and I do not want a situation where something has happened and then I'm being told by the government or by a foundation or by a bulldozing company that it's too late to do anything about it," she said. "If anything like that happens ... there are going to be serious consequences."
In September, there were all sorts of false alarms that Trump's bechainsawed henchmen were slicing down trees at the course, willy-nilly, including scores of 100-year-old cherry trees gifted by the Japanese.
Even FactCheck, as much as it must have hurt them, had to correct the record.
Social Media Posts Push False Claim of Trump Chopping Down 60 Cherry Trees
Q: Did the Trump administration have 60 cherry blossom trees cut down in D.C. to build a golf course?
A: In what the Department of Interior called “routine maintenance,” about 60 trees were removed from East Potomac Park, according to the Washington Post. But only one cherry tree removal was mentioned in that article, and an advocacy group opposed to major changes to the park told us it only knew “for certain” of one cherry tree being cut down.
And the course isn't being 'built' - it's being renovated.
Anyway, another six weeks go by, and I guess somebody didn't tell somebody that a federal judge had appointed herself groundskeeper of the public golf course, because...well.
TIMBER!!!
And didn't the judge have herself a cow...in the rhetorical sense.
'Furious' judge extends order barring Trump administration from removing more trees from DC public golf course
A federal judge on Tuesday extended her order barring the Trump administration from carrying out any further tree removals at Washington's East Potomac Golf Course until at least Oct. 26, court records show.
D.C. District Judge Ana Reyes erupted at Trump administration attorneys on Monday after they told her that more than 400 trees had been felled at the Washington D.C. public course that President Donald Trump wants to turn into one that can host professional tournaments.
The attorneys had previously pledged to provide notice to plaintiffs in the case about any irrevocable harm that would occur at the golf course through government actions.
A federal judge repeatedly pressed for answers Monday during an hourslong hearing on who within the Trump administration ordered the abrupt removal of hundreds of trees at a Washington, D.C., public golf course over the weekend. Read more: https://t.co/oXA1R8Ov1k https://t.co/hpBTw6z3bv
— ABC News (@ABC) October 13, 2026
Trump, understandably, is over this particular judge, after all the ballroom bull. He wants her gone, and said so, and his DOJ team asked for precisely that.
'Scuse, madame? Would you kindly recuse yourself?
The Trump administration's fight to redo a public golf course in Washington, DC, may come to a head during a critical hearing Monday, as the administration tries to remove the judge from the case. #InsidePolitics https://t.co/P8FdI7zf7W
— Inside Politics (@InsidePolitics) October 18, 2026
Judge Reyes said she was staying put, and she and the plaintiff's attorney - one Abbe Lowell - do not believe that justification the Department of the Interior is using to remove the trees. She is an expert arborist, as well as a renowned jurist, it appears.
A contentious hearing is underway in Washington, D.C., where lawyers for the Trump administration are facing off with a federal judge pushing for answers over whether she was deliberately misled by the government over why it removed hundreds of trees from a local public golf course.
D.C. District Judge Ana Reyes has ordered testimony from Interior Department official Gregory Wischer and acting Director of the National Park Service Jessica Bowron over why the government moved abruptly on Columbus Day weekend to remove more than 500 trees from East Potomac golf course without giving her proper advance notice.
...The golf course has been the subject of litigation brought by the D.C. Preservation League in response to President Donald Trump's efforts to turn it into a course that could host professional tournaments.
Reyes has questioned the motive for the tree removal, saying during Monday's hearing that there appeared to be "a strong showing of bad faith" on the government's part in continuing to point to a 2019 Cultural Landscape Report calling for the removal of dead, dying and hazardous trees around the golf course as Trump has posted on social media about moving ahead with renovations to the golf course.
...The government's justification for the recent tree removal has focused on the 2019 report on the removal of the trees, claiming that the tree removals are not related to the Trump administration's separate planned wholesale redesign of the golf course.
Attorney Abbe Lowell repeatedly pressed Wischer during the hearing over whether the 2019 report was a credible explanation.
Wischer, a political appointee, has sought to maintain that the tree removals were entirely about "cleaning up the course" and not tied to Trump's renovation efforts.
Naturally, the president went after her, as only he can.
CRAZED LUNATIC
Trump: "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 ... The judge on the case is a crazed lunatic whose courthouse tapes will reveal, may be insane?" https://t.co/o0pjytzthu
— Molly Ploofkins (@Mollyploofkins) October 19, 2026
I'm not here to argue with the man.
What has been kind of fun in watching all of this has been reading the law guys, who believe that Trump and Co. have set a very clever trap for Judge Reyes by simply playing on her outsized ego. And it's going to be a thing of beauty if it turns out they were right.
Judge Reyes has already been reversed by the Supreme Court twice - the ballroom - for overplaying her hand.
Are you under the impression that any entry in the docket of this case suggested that the Judge was favorably disposed to the position of the Govt? She's been reversed by SCOTUS twice already for blocking Trump Admin. changes in policy. Impressive for only 3 years on the bench.
— Shipwreckedcrew (@shipwreckedcrew) October 19, 2026
Impressive for only 3 years on the bench.
And all of Trump's posturing and bellicose verbiage over a public course in desperate need of a fix-up, less mind being turned into a premier facility, is meant to goad the easily triggered judge into making that one false step while infuriated that bumps this out of her courtroom.
And puts her on the path to yet another what should be a humiliating SCOTUS smackdown.
@shipwreckedcrew https://t.co/V0YNC8gpS9 You get sick of being right? She couldn’t resist. Probably playing right into some plans behind the scene.
— Christopher Krause (@Ckrause1990) October 18, 2026
She couldn't help herself. She bit.
WON'T SOMEBODY SAVE DEMOCRACY?!
Trump is stealing a beloved public park to transform it into a high-end golf course. This is bigger than one park, though. This is about how far Trump will go to defy the courts. https://t.co/alKlmbCyve
— Mark Warner (@MarkWarner) October 19, 2026
I can't say anything has been decided yet because it hasn't made it out of Judge Reyes's chambers yet.
And Reyes had the audio feed cut so no one could hear her yelling.
Judge Reyes cut the public audio access line so none of the hearing could be covered outside of the courtroom. “I don’t think that’s an appropriate action, your honor,” Woodward said, declaring that such a demand would put those lawyers “in an incredibly untenable” situation. “I don’t care what you think,” the judge told Woodward, before walking back the barb. I will order the transcript.
— Julie Kelly 🇺🇸 (@julie_kelly2) October 19, 2026
...“I don’t think that’s an appropriate action, your honor,” Woodward said, declaring that such a demand would put those lawyers “in an incredibly untenable” situation.
“I don’t care what you think,” the judge told Woodward, before walking back the barb.
I will order the transcript.
I guess she's prone to yelling...and now she's also into designing golf courses. Or rather, determining what design they should have.
Five hours later, the public line is on for the East Potomac golf links hearing.
It's impossible to catch up without having access to what was discussed earlier...but Reyes is in usual form, berating one of the prosecutors.
OMG she is now demanding prosecutors answer whether she has been yelling after one of the lawyers accuse her of yelling. "I am not yelling," Reyes yelled.
Woodward, wisely, did not answer. She asked Abbe Lowell, who of course said she was not.
At issue now is whether the renovation represents a major "agency action." A Dept of Interior declaration apparently stated it was while DOJ says it is not--this relates to whether the project is subject to the APA, Administrative Procedure Act, the basis for nearly every lawsuit against the Trump Adm.
On the discrepancy, Reyes is setting up a contempt claim against the Trump adm (ala Boasberg) warning that "someone is going to take responsibility for what happens in this courtroom."
She continues to argue with Woodward about the scale of the golf project. "How is designing a golf course on an historical site is not an agency action," Reyes said.
Judge Reyes really is a treasure. So multi-talented. How lucky the D.C. bench is to have her when they need an 'expert' nose stuck in damn near anywhere.
@kyledcheney @JoeCleary2 The plan to restore the historic 1917 golf course was commissioned by President Obama. Landscape historians from University of Pennsylvania found 529 diseased and invasive trees and recommended removal. Here’s the full report https://t.co/Aq8O2QyUD8
— OldLawyer 🇺🇸🇮🇱⚖️✡️ (@Zuk_DC) October 12, 2026
There is no fury like an AWFL scorned.
Editor's Note: Unelected federal judges are obstructing President Trump's agenda and ignoring the will of the people.
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