A federal judge signaled Monday she'll extend her blockade on tree clearing at a D.C. golf course President Trump wants renovated — another unelected jurist freezing executive action on land the American people own, this time over trees at a public course the president calls "old, tired, beaten up, and useless."
Judge Ana Reyes presided over a seven-hour hearing and said she likely needs to extend her injunction because the government acted in "bad faith" when it cut down more than 400 trees over Columbus Day weekend. The plaintiffs — a preservation group and two Washington residents — want to stop Trump from converting the 100-year-old East Potomac Golf Links, which currently offers three courses for varying skill levels, into a single championship-style course.
Who's bankrolling this lawsuit remains unclear. Neither NBC News nor HotAir identified the preservation group by name or traced its funding. That's standard for the establishment press — they'll quote the plaintiffs' arguments at length but won't follow the money to tell you who's paying the lawyers.
The hearing laid bare an uncomfortable contradiction for the Justice Department. DOJ lawyers told Reyes there was no renovation plan in place. Acting National Park Service Director Jessica Bowron testified the first time she heard about a planned closure was Trump's own social media post. Interior chief of staff Gregory Wischer said he was "not aware" of any work planned for November 15. Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward characterized Trump's directive as something he would "like" to do.
Then Trump posted that renovation would begin "IMMEDIATELY" and that Interior "does not need an approval."
Reyes wasn't buying the coincidence. "There is no universe in which all of this just coincidentally happened at the same time," she said, citing Trump's posts as evidence of bad faith.
HotAir framed the judge's intervention as absurd overreach — a district judge threatening "serious consequences" if "one leaf came off a tree" and noting the course has been "quietly mildewing away from benign neglect." The outlet also pointed out that viral claims about Trump chopping down 60 cherry trees gifted by Japan were debunked, including by FactCheck.org, which confirmed the alarm was false.
NBC News, by contrast, buried the debunked cherry tree claims and focused heavily on Reyes's reasoning and the administration's contradictory statements, framing the judge as a careful fact-finder rather than a jurist who has been warning the executive branch since May not to act without her permission.
Trump called Reyes a "crazed lunatic" on social media. NBC News noted that Reyes received death threats following the president's comments — something the judge said happens routinely when Trump targets someone publicly.
The core question isn't whether Trump's social media posts contradict his own lawyers. They often do. The question is whether a single district judge should have the power to freeze executive branch decisions about federal property — routine maintenance included — before any plan is formally proposed, let alone enacted. Reyes first warned the administration in May not to touch a leaf without consulting her. Now she's poised to make that blockade permanent.
