A federal judge told the government on Monday that she does not believe its central claim in the East Potomac fight. Hearing sworn testimony from Interior Department and National Park Service officials, U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes expressed deep skepticism that the mass cutting of trees at East Potomac Park and President Trump's new golf course plan for the site are unconnected. "There is no universe in which all of this coincidentally happened all at the same time," Reyes said during a contentious hearing in Washington.
The Park Service has removed hundreds of trees at East Potomac Golf Links. Reyes last week ordered a halt to the redevelopment work until at least October 26, scolding the government for starting large-scale tree removal over a holiday weekend with little notice to the court or the plaintiffs. Attorneys for the D.C. Preservation League and two golfers challenging the project asked her on Monday to extend that pause, arguing the work is inflicting irreversible damage. The Justice Department had also asked Reyes to recuse herself from the case; she declined late Sunday, and the hearing went ahead with the government's witnesses under oath.
"There is no universe in which all of this coincidentally happened all at the same time."
Monday's hearing is the latest turn in the fight this site has been following. On Sunday, Trump announced plans to close the golf course for 15 months starting November 15 and redevelop the 106-year-old park and course. In a post on Monday, he said the work would start immediately, called Reyes a "crazed lunatic," and vowed the East Potomac work begins despite her order. Reyes's comments from the bench now set up the next decision: whether the pause she imposed holds past October 26 while the case proceeds — with the president publicly committed to starting work and the judge publicly doubting the government's account of what the work is.
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