Golfers hit the course at East Potomac Golf Links in October. The National Park Service confirmed in a filing that it has marked more than 500 trees for removal as the Trump administration mulls a renovation of the golf course.
Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images
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Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images
In a tense hearing Monday, federal Judge Ana C. Reyes sharply reprimanded administration lawyers over President Trump’s apparent intention to defy the court and proceed with a major renovation of the historic East Potomac Golf Links in Washington, D.C. Days earlier, the judge had temporarily blocked the government from moving forward with the project.
During the hearing, which ended without a decision, Reyes chastised the government’s lawyers, who had previously told the court that the renovation of the connections was still in the conceptual stage. So when Trump released his detailed plans for a new golf course on Sunday, Reyes wanted to know who was responsible for misleading the court.
“Do I believe the President of the United States or do I believe you?” she asked.
During the hearing, Reyes often showed frustration and annoyance. “I have, on the one hand, the president of the United States who has said three times to the American public, I think in the last two days, that there is a final plan to redesign the golf course,” she said. “Then you all tell me, as well as, you know, the witnesses say what they say, that there is no final plan. What is it?”
Trump has said he wants to turn the three existing courses at East Potomac Golf Links into one “championship-style golf course.” But in February, a D.C. preservation group and two individuals challenged the U.S. Department of the Interior and the National Park Service over the planned renovations, arguing that the renovated course would inflate tee time costs for a facility that was originally intended to be “open to all.”
East Potomac Park Golf Course covers a peninsula between the Potomac River and the Washington Canal.
Pablo Martínez Monsivais/AP
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Pablo Martínez Monsivais/AP
In May, the judge ordered the administration to report any significant construction work on the route, including the removal of more than 10 trees. Despite the order, on Friday October 9, just before a public holiday weekend, government officials informed the court that they planned to cut down “up to 529 trees” in stages.
Bulldozers began felling hundreds of trees the next day. During a three-hour emergency hearing last week, Reyes called out government lawyers for not giving enough notice for the tree’s removal. She did not believe the argument that the felling of the trees was part of routine maintenance, saying she was “beyond disappointed” by the action and ordered a 24-hour shutdown.
Judge: “Every benefit of the doubt”
“I don’t know how I could have said more clearly that I didn’t want what was to happen to happen,” she said, adding: “I gave the government the benefit of the doubt that they would not do precisely what they did.”
On Friday, the White House filed a motion demanding that Reyes recuse himself from the case, accusing him of bias. The judge refused to step down.
Before Monday’s hearing, Trump wrote about Social truth that Reyes was a “crazy lunatic” and said the renovation work did not need court approval. “The work should begin IMMEDIATELY!” he said. The position of president seems contradict an answer filed the day before by Justice Department lawyers, stating that “the plan is not final because the Park Service has not completed its review.”
Trump described the golf course as “old, broken, dilapidated and of no other use or effect.” The prospect of a complete renovation has alarmed residents who fear losing access to the historically affordable course and surrounding recreation area, popular with cyclists, runners, fishermen and picnickers.
A protected monument
The century-old golf courses were also one of the first public courses to be desegregated. “This is not just a simple putt-putt course,” Reyes told attorneys, who appeared in court Monday. The park has “deep meaning for the residents of the neighborhood and is protected as a historic landmark.”
The White House said it was simply conducting a 2019 preservation planBut plaintiffs seeking to block the changes said Trump’s stated desire to revamp the course went well beyond that. Among other things, the 2019 plan recommends removing invasive vegetation that does not contribute to the historic landscape, but not healthy native species.
The golf course is one of several cases in which the president has sought to circumvent the courts in order to exercise his power and put his own stamp on Washington, DC. He also threatened to demolish the Kennedy Center and seeks to build a 250-foot arch near the National Mall.
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