WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
  • Judge Ana Reyes ordered a 24 hour halt to tree cutting at East Potomac Golf Course after more than 400 trees were removed.
  • Reyes accused Trump administration lawyers of destroying the government’s credibility and shouted that ignorance was not an excuse.
  • The temporary order could be extended to 14 days while officials seek an explanation for the holiday weekend tree removal.
  • Stephen Miller blasted the court’s intervention and defended the administration’s effort to make Washington safe, clean and beautiful.

A federal judge on Monday slammed the brakes on the Trump administration’s renovation work at East Potomac Golf Course after more than 400 trees were removed over the weekend. U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes issued a 24-hour halt to further tree cutting at the Washington course.

Reyes, a Biden appointee, opened Monday morning’s hearing with a blistering 15-minute statement aimed at Trump DOJ lawyers. The hearing lasted three hours and centered on the administration’s actions at the golf course over the holiday weekend.

The judge, who was born in Uruguay, said administration lawyers had previously told her they would alert the court before taking any “irreversible” actions at the course. The removal of more than 400 trees quickly sent the proceedings into meltdown territory.

“I’m furious,” Judge Reyes said on Monday morning.

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Reyes then accused the government of squandering its standing with the court through its conduct. “What has happened has cost the government all of its credibility,” Reyes added.

The judge also shouted at the DOJ lawyers during the hearing. “Ignorance is not an excuse!”

Reyes ordered the 24-hour pause while the government attempts to locate a key Trump administration official who could discuss why the extensive tree cutting needed to happen over the holiday weekend.

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The order could be extended to 14 days if Reyes decides a longer halt is necessary. For now, she limited the temporary order to one day while the government seeks answers from the administration official.

The lawsuit was brought by plaintiffs attempting to stop the renovation plans at the historic golf course. According to the account, the tree removal happened with little notification to either those plaintiffs or the judge overseeing their case.

Reyes has previously declined repeated requests from the plaintiffs to halt the administration’s work. Her concern, as described during the hearing, was that the administration’s strategy appeared to involve pushing projects forward despite continuing court action.

The East Potomac Golf Course has been part of President Donald Trump’s plans to remake Washington. Monday’s order, however, put the tree cutting on hold as the court demanded an explanation for the weekend activity.

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Stephen Miller, Trump Deputy Chief of Staff for policy, blasted the judge’s intervention and questioned why a federal court was involving itself in golf course maintenance. He also defended the administration’s effort to improve Washington after what he described as decades of decay.

“I missed the part of the Constitutional Convention that put federal judges in charge of golf course maintenance. The Left is endlessly enraged that, after allowing DC to decay for decades, the Trump Administration is making it safe, clean and beautiful,” Miller said.

The clash produced another familiar Washington spectacle, with a Biden-appointed judge erupting at Trump administration lawyers over a project the administration says is intended to make the capital clean and beautiful. This time, the flashpoint was not a sweeping federal program but tree removal at a public golf course.

Contrast Reyes’s fury over the golf course project with the response from leftist judges when Democrats release illegal alien rapists and murderers. In its telling, the volcanic outrage arrived only after the Trump administration moved to improve a long neglected course.

For the moment, the immediate question is whether the halt will remain limited to 24 hours or grow into a 14-day order. That decision may depend on what the administration official tells the government and what explanation reaches Reyes about the timing and necessity of the tree cutting.

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