Judge signals longer halt on tree clearing at Trump’s planned Washington golf course renovation

U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes indicated at an October 19 hearing in Washington that she was likely to extend an order blocking further tree cutting at East Potomac Golf Links, where President Donald Trump wants a renovation to begin immediately. The decision matters for the federal course because hundreds of trees have already been removed amid a court fight over its future. Reyes had not issued a final extension ruling in the reported hearing.

Why Reyes questioned the tree clearing

During the seven-hour hearing, Reyes pointed to her finding that the government acted in bad faith when it abruptly cut more than 400 trees over the Columbus Day holiday weekend, NBC News reported. She rejected the administration’s argument that the clearing was unrelated to Trump’s renovation plan. ‘There is no universe in which all of this just coincidentally happened at the same time,’ she said, according to NBC News.

Trump’s timetable and officials’ testimony

Trump said on October 18 that East Potomac Golf Links would close for renovation on November 15 and reopen in about 15 months. In a Truth Social post the next morning, he said work was scheduled to begin ‘IMMEDIATELY’ and asserted that Interior Department experts did not need approval, Reuters reported. His statements brought the proposed timetable into sharper conflict with the court restrictions and officials’ account of the project.

At the hearing, Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward told Reyes there was no plan to close the course and described Trump’s directive as something the president would ‘like’ to do, according to NBC News. Acting National Park Service Director Jessica Bowron testified that Trump’s post was the first she had heard of the planned closure and that she had no information about the referenced plan. Interior Department chief of staff Gregory Wischer said he was unaware of work planned to begin on November 15.

A preservation group and two Washington residents brought the case. They argue that the renovation would change the character of the roughly century-old site, which has three courses for players of different abilities, by turning it into one championship-style course, NBC News reported. The scope and duration of any extended tree-clearing order remain to be decided.