Judge further extends block on Trump administration’s removing trees at D.C. golf course

A federal judge in Washington issued a longer-term injunction Monday blocking the Trump administration from removing or damaging any additional trees on the grounds of East Potomac Golf Links.

The order says the administration must provide written notice 10 business days before it makes “any irreparable modification to any forms or features of East Potomac Park” while the case proceeds.

In her order, U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes cited some of President Donald Trump’s Truth Social posts, which contradicted testimony from government employees.

“This started as a case about golf. That good walk spoiled. But it has become much more. It now forces the Court to reconcile assertions by President Donald J. Trump with the sworn testimony of multiple government employees and the argument of senior Department of Justice attorneys,” Reyes wrote.

The order displayed screenshots of Truth Social posts, including one on Oct. 18 in which Trump said Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, along with an architect, had “developed a plan to build a World Class Championship Golf Course” at East Potomac starting Nov. 15, even though Justice Department lawyers had earlier said there was no renovation plan.

In a follow-up post Oct. 19, Trump said work on the course would begin not on Nov. 15, but “IMMEDIATELY!” That post also said workers did not need approval for construction and called Reyes “a crazed lunatic.”

“Rarely, if ever, has the United States Department of Justice urged a federal court not to believe the sitting President,” Reyes wrote in her order Monday. “And yet, here we are.”

Reyes said during a seven-hour hearing this month that she believed it was most likely necessary to extend her order pausing the tree demolition because she had already found the government acted in “bad faith” when it abruptly chopped down more than 400 trees at the course over the Columbus Day holiday weekend.

“The Court earlier stated, ‘I am not the Lorax. I do not speak for the trees.’ The Court still does not speak for the trees. It speaks only for the rule of law,” Reyes wrote Monday.

Democracy Forward President and CEO Skye Perryman, who is representing plaintiffs in the case, praised Monday’s ruling in a statement.

“This is a big win that will rightly protect East Potomac park from further irreparable harm,” Perryman said. “We are grateful the court intervened to stop the Trump-Vance association’s greed and lawlessness while the case continues, and we are eager to argue the case in court.”