Judge orders freeze after Trump administration cuts 430 trees at East Potomac Park for golf course renovation

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A federal judge is “furious” after the Trump administration began cutting down hundreds of trees at a public golf course in Washington, D.C., which President Donald Trump plans to renovate.

Approximately 430 trees were dozed at East Potomac Golf Links on Oct. 10, with another 299 still slated to be removed. At an emergency hearing on Oct. 11, U.S. District Judge Ana C. Reyes ordered the government to stop cutting down the trees until at least 2 pm Tuesday, telling Department of Justice (DOJ) lawyers she would need 72 hours notice before any future work.

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“I have no faith that the government isn’t going to cut them down unless there’s an order in place not to do so,” Reyes said during the emergency hearing, according to the Washington Post.

Reyes told DOJ attorneys they had lost their “credibility,” and warned lawyers for the government that if they violate her order “by two seconds” it would prompt contempt proceedings.

The legal battle

The removal of the trees on the historic site has faced ongoing litigation from the D.C. Preservation League and two golfers who allege the Trump administration is racing ahead with the renovations without doing the proper environmental and preservation reviews.

Government officials testified at the emergency hearing that the plan to remove trees was finalized on Oct. 5 and was approved four days later after going through environmental and legal reviews. DOJ lawyers were supposed to give the court and the plaintiffs notice of major or irreversible work before it began — but the government filed its notice at 4:55 p.m. Friday before the holiday weekend. That’s just 12 hours before crews began downing the trees.

“More than being upset and furious right now, I am just deeply disappointed in the government,” Reyes said during the emergency hearing, according to USA Today. “On what universe did anyone in your office think this was acceptable?”

At one point during the hearing, a DOJ lawyer told Reyes that government lawyers “did our best” to notify the courts — but Reyes said the removal of the trees was not urgent and litigants should have been given notice days earlier.

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“You did not do your best,” Reyes said, according to the Post. “You did your absolute worst.”

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Trump’s renovation plans

The park is one of several renovation projects Trump is undertaking in Washington. The Trump administration is hoping to turn the public course into a professional one — an endeavour that is estimated to cost between $20 million and $49 million, according to CNN.

The plan has angered residents, environmental groups and golfers who worry renovations will impact the environment and take away affordable spaces to play.

In June, Trump posted on social media that the renovation would allow the course to host major golf events and said that many of the trees on the site are badly damaged and falling.

The government has maintained that the tree cutting is not part of Trump’s planned overhaul of the course. The superintendent of the National Mall and Memorial Parks Kevin Griess testified that his team was carrying out a directive from a National Park Service official to move forward with a 2019 plan to remove trees from the site.

Griess said that the plan was meant to improve safety and the landscape of the park and only moved forward now because the agency had received new resources and funding. He also said he had not been briefed on Trump’s renovation plans.

During the emergency hearing, DOJ lawyers also claimed the tree-cutting wasn’t part of the renovation plans, instead arguing it was simply “tree management.”

According to USA Today, Reyes called it “preposterous” that the tree management plan, which had been dormant for seven years, was suddenly implemented in less than a week.

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