Updated

Updated · The Washington Post · Oct 19

Judge Reyes Ties 400-Tree Cut to Trump Golf Overhaul as Officials Contradict Nov. 15 Closure

Updated

Updated · The Washington Post · Oct 19

Judge Reyes Ties 400-Tree Cut to Trump Golf Overhaul as Officials Contradict Nov. 15 Closure

Q: Why were hundreds of trees removed at a historic golf course before the judge could review the legality of the championship overhaul?

Hundreds of trees were removed before the judge could review the project because the government moved quickly under a separate stated rationale: officials said the cutting was part of an older National Park Service landscape-restoration and safety effort, not the new championship-course overhaul that is being challenged in court. That distinction mattered legally. The Justice Department argued the broader redevelopment was still only a proposal, with no final agency action yet for a court to review, while the tree work was tied to a 2019 cultural landscape report calling for the removal of dead, dying, hazardous, or historically inconsistent trees. Interior and Park Service officials testified that they were trying to “clean up the course” and carry out that plan rapidly. Judge Ana Reyes, however, questioned whether that explanation was credible. She had previously required advance notice before major or irreversible changes, and the court learned that notice came only shortly before crews began weekend work. By then, roughly 430 to 500 trees had already been cut or marked for removal, with some estimates running higher. So the immediate reason the trees came down before judicial review was timing and the administration’s decision to treat the work as separate from the contested redesign. The central dispute now is whether that was a genuine restoration project or a way of advancing the golf-course overhaul before the court could rule on its legality.

3 articles · Updated · The Washington Post · Oct 19

More than 400 trees cut on Oct. 10 are likely to be formally deemed part of Trump’s East Potomac overhaul, after Judge Ana C. Reyes said the evidence now points to a single redevelopment plan.
Seven hours of testimony exposed sharp conflicts: Trump said work would start immediately and the course would close Nov. 15, while Interior and Park Service officials said they were not ready, had no final plan and learned key details from Trump’s posts.
Reyes said the government’s timeline strained credulity because officials only revisited a 2019 restoration report in late September, drafted a tree plan within days and began cutting on Oct. 10.
The proposed redesign by Tom Fazio would shrink East Potomac from 36 holes to one 18-hole championship course and appears to remove Ohio Drive, miniature golf and a century-old cherry grove.
Reyes, who said she received death threats after Trump attacked her and DOJ sought her recusal, did not rule Monday but signaled she may extend the ban on more tree cutting and require notice before irreversible changes.