Judge halts tree cutting at Trump-backed East Potomac golf project

A federal judge on Monday, October 12, 2026, ordered a temporary halt to tree cutting at East Potomac Golf Course in Washington after hundreds of trees were removed from the federally owned property over the holiday weekend. The course is part of President Donald Trump's plan to remake the public facility into a championship-level venue.

U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes imposed an initial 24-hour pause following an emergency hearing that lasted about three hours. Associated Press reporting published by PBS News said Reyes could extend the order for as long as 14 days. A further hearing was scheduled for Tuesday as the court seeks more information about who authorized the work and why officials treated it as urgent.

The order is narrow and temporary. It does not resolve the broader lawsuit over the course, decide whether the administration's renovation plans are lawful or permanently prevent the National Park Service from conducting maintenance. Its immediate effect is to stop additional cutting while the judge examines the government's actions and receives testimony from officials involved in the decision.

Reyes sharply criticized the administration during the hearing, saying she had previously tried to make clear that she did not want irreversible work to proceed while the dispute was before her. According to the AP account, she said she had given the government the benefit of the doubt and believed it had done precisely what she sought to avoid. Reuters separately reported that she called the conduct inexcusable and said Justice Department lawyers had damaged the government's credibility with the court.

News organizations reported that at least 430 trees were removed. The scale and speed of the work became central issues because earlier public descriptions had referred to a smaller operation and because the cutting took place while preservation groups were seeking emergency judicial relief. The judge focused on whether plaintiffs and the court received adequate notice before the landscape was substantially altered.

Testimony identified Greg Wischer, a deputy chief of staff at the Interior Department, as an official who pressed for the work to move forward urgently, according to the AP report. Reyes directed the government to locate Wischer for the follow-up proceeding. Frank Lands, the National Park Service's deputy director for operations, also participated remotely as the judge questioned how the weekend operation was approved.

East Potomac Golf Course sits on federal parkland at Hains Point, south of the National Mall. Trump has promoted a major redesign of the municipal course, including a championship layout. The administration reached an agreement earlier in 2026 that changed the management and renovation path for East Potomac and two other public courses in Washington, prompting preservation and public-access groups to sue.

Administration officials have previously characterized tree removal at East Potomac as maintenance work involving unsafe or unhealthy trees rather than construction of Trump's proposed redesign. The plaintiffs dispute the broader process and contend that moving ahead can cause irreversible damage before environmental, historic-preservation and public-access claims are reviewed. Monday's order does not settle that disagreement.

The latest confrontation centers as much on the government's communications with the court as on the golf plan itself. A temporary pause preserves the remaining landscape long enough for Reyes to hear from the officials who made the decision. The next hearing will determine whether the stop should remain in place beyond the initial 24 hours and what additional disclosures the administration must provide.

Sources and image credit

Reporting: Associated Press report published by PBS News

Additional reporting: Reuters

Image: View of the Washington Monument from East Potomac Golf Links by Wikimedia Commons user ~delta (cropped to 16:9).

License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International