Oct. 27 (UPI) — A federal judge has temporarily prohibited the Trump administration from cutting down additional trees at the historic East Potomac Golf Course, finding that it likely violated environmental law as it pursued President Donald Trump’s plan to redevelop the property into a world-class golf course.
U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes issued the preliminary injunction Monday, a little more than two weeks after the Trump administration removed hundreds of trees from the site despite earlier assurances that it would provide meaningful advance notice before undertaking significant work amid litigation.
“The court acts now only because the government did what it assured all it would not do,” she wrote in the 70-page opinion.
The plaintiffs argue that the administration has attempted to circumvent federal environmental law by dividing the larger redevelopment into smaller projects to avoid reviewing their combined effects. They also contend that the proposed renovations would transform an affordable public golf course into an exclusive facility for wealthy golfers, undermining its role as public lands.
“East Potomac Park is an important part of our history and our laws prevent this administration from depriving the public of this space without a fair and public process,” the plaintiffs said in a joint statement issued following Monday’s order.
“We are eager to continue to argue this case in court.”
The ruling comes in a protracted case filed by the DC Preservation League and two local residents in February, and have asked the court a dozen times to intervene. But Reyes was reluctant to do so for months, as Trump administration officials maintained that there was no larger plan to transform the golf course into a facility for world-class tournaments, despite Trumps’s repeated public statements about such a redevelopment.
Federal lawyers have argued before the court that Trump’s statements do not establish the existence of a finalized agency redevelopment plan.
Reyes stepped in and issued a restraining order prohibiting tree removal at the site days after the National Park Service felled nearly 430 park trees on Oct. 10, after giving the court and the plaintiffs less than 18 hours’ notice of the “routine maintenance work.”
In her pointed opinion Monday explaining the preliminary injunction, Reyes directly addressed the conflict in the government’s position, stating, “Rarely, if ever, has the United States Department of Justice urged a federal court not to believe the sitting president.”
“And yet, here we are.”
“This started as a case about golf. That good walk spoiled. But it has become much more,” she continued. “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.”
In the opinion, Reyes preliminary found that despite the denials from federal lawyers and Trump administration officials, a Washington National Plan for the golf course exists, pointing to public comments from the president and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum as well as the existence of architectural designs, the termination of an existing lease and a June 28 tour of the property by Trump, Burgum, architect Tom Fazio and other officials.
“The court cannot disbelieve the president’s clear, repeated statements of fact when those statements find support in the record and the government has presented no credible evidence to contradict him,” she said.
Reyes also raised concerns about the Trump administration’s representations to the court, pointing to it giving less than 18 hours’ notice of the Oct. 10 tree removal plan despite it having been planned at least a week in advance and the court’s warning against acting first then forgiveness later.
“All this is concerning. The government appears to have set the timing of the tree removal and late notice to impede plaintiffs’ ability to seek court intervention. And its recent actions call into question other representations it has made to the court over these many months,” she said.
Reyes gave the Trump administration until 10 a.m. Wednesday to explain why the court should not order it to preserve information relevant to the existence of the Washington National Plan, the timing of the tree removal and the notification of tree removal to plaintiffs and the court.