A judge blocks the government's tree-clearing spree at a municipal D.C. golf course

A federal judge has temporarily barred the Trump administration from cutting down additional trees at a D.C. municipal golf course, the latest example of a court intervening in the government's efforts to reshape pieces of the nation's capital.

The long-simmering fight over East Potomac Golf Links — which President Trump wants to redevelop into a championship-level course — erupted over the weekend, after the administration cut down hundreds of trees with little notice.

U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes had ordered the administration in May to get court approval before cutting down more than 10 trees at the golf course. Officials notified the court just before 5 p.m. on Friday of their plan to remove "up to 529 trees" in phases starting on Saturday — and had razed at least 430 by the end of the day, prompting Reyes to call an emergency hearing on Monday.

"What has happened has cost the government all of its credibility with me in this case," Reyes said during the nearly four-hour hearing, held via videoconference.

Reyes ordered a short-term stop to the tree-clearings, which she extended on Tuesday through Oct. 26. She warned Monday that "if that order is violated by two seconds, there are going to be contempt proceedings."

Reyes also ordered top officials from the Department of Interior and the National Park Service to testify at a hearing next Monday, to shed more light on the government's motivations and the future of the historic course.

"The questions go to whether or not I've been lied to," Reyes said. "Whether I've been lied to in declarations about the plans, whether or not I've been lied to about the timing of things, and whether I've been lied to about what kind of notice the court was going to receive."

East Potomac has emerged as another flashpoint in Trump's unilateral quest to remake D.C., and it's the subject of a lawsuit by critics who fear it could go the way of the now-lost White House East Wing unless a court intervenes. The D.C. Preservation League, along with two concerned residents, sued the government in February over what it calls an unlawful takeover.

"This is a tactic we're seen before from the Trump-Vance administration – act quickly to irrevocably alter a cherished national landmark, just to advance another one of President Trump's pet vanity projects," Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward — one of the firms involved in the lawsuit — said in a statement this weekend.

Perryman told NPR on Tuesday that the golf course is the latest in a pattern of the Trump administration "undermining the entire checks and balances process in this country, which includes undermining court proceedings."

Trump has long floated the idea of redeveloping East Potomac into a championship-caliber course and announced plans to do so earlier this year, though his target Sept. 1 start date has come and gone without a formal proposal.

The prospect — and the lack of clarity since — has raised alarm among locals concerned about losing access to the historically affordable course and to the surrounding recreational area, which is popular with cyclists, runners, fishers and picnickers.

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"This is a broader story than just about golf, especially when there's been this little transparency, … to say, 'Here's what the future of this little man-made peninsula is actually going to look like,'" Alex Rosen, a D.C.-based consultant who started the nonprofit Save East Po, told NPR in July.

A National Park Service official said in a Friday court filing that plans for renovations "remain in the conceptual stage." And the Interior Department told NPR in a statement on Tuesday that it is "committed to continuing the relationships we have built with the local golf communities to ensure these courses are safe, beautiful, open, affordable, enjoyable, accessible, and world-class."

But critics are growing increasingly concerned about the process itself. They worry the Trump administration is using so-called routine maintenance as a pretext to begin redevelopment without the proper authorization.

"You can't continuously say, 'There's no plan' … while you're clearly taking steps to effect a plan," Rosen, who is not involved in the lawsuit, told NPR after watching the hearing. "It's just frankly lying."

Why the rush? The court hopes for answers next week 

At Monday's hearing, Reyes expressed regret that she hadn't issued a formal restraining order earlier, which she said was because "I have done everything humanly possible to give the government the benefit of the doubt in this case."

For example, after the administration quietly removed what it has since said were roughly 150 dying and invasive trees in late August, Reyes acknowledged that people were upset but declined to intervene: "I am not the Lorax," she said at an early September hearing.

By Monday, that benefit of the doubt was gone. When a government lawyer said they had done their best to notify the court, Reyes offered a sharp rebuke.

"You did not do your best," she said, voice raised. "You did your absolute worst."

Perryman, of Democracy Forward, said, "What was really remarkable about the hearing yesterday is that the government did not appear to have a defense for its failure to notify the court."

In Friday's court filing, National Mall and Memorial Parks Superintendent Kevin Griess described the tree-clearing as part of an effort "to address deferred maintenance needs and implement treatment recommendations to restore the cultural landscape."

Griess specifically cited a 2019 National Park Service report about D.C. municipal golf courses, which says several waves of tree planting at East Potomac over the last century have obscured views and changed the feel of the course from its original 1920s "links-style" design.

Griess said in his filing that NPS was able to act on the report because it had received a temporary surge of "approximately 20 to 50 trained personnel capable of performing labor-intensive grounds maintenance activities." Under questioning in court, he confirmed that surge was connected to the administration's 250th anniversary events, including the IndyCar race on the National Mall in August.

But critics are skeptical, given the president's public statements. Alex Dickson, one of the plaintiffs, said in a statement that "the administration is using a preservation report as cover to begin tearing out the course it was written to save."

Griess said he had gotten the green light last week from Frank Lands, the park service's deputy director of operations. At the judge's request, Lands then joined the hearing from his car in a parking lot. He said he had gotten the directive from Greg Wischer, deputy chief of staff to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.

Wischer was not reachable to join the hearing, despite Reyes' request that he do so. She has ordered Wischer and Jessica Bowron, the acting director of the National Park Service, to testify at another hearing next Monday.

The Interior Department didn't answer NPR's questions about the timeline and resources for the tree-clearing, but said in a statement that "President Donald J. Trump is fulfilling his commitment to make D.C. Safe and Beautiful as shown by the working fountains, clean parks and safe streets across the district for the first time in decades."

In granting the plaintiffs' request for an extended restraining order on Tuesday, Reyes wrote that they had "proven they will likely suffer irreparable harm absent injunctive relief." She also said the government must provide "three business days' written advance notice prior to making any irreparable modification" to the golf course.