Rolling Back Trump

Had the Interior Department terminate a nonprofit's 50-year lease managing Washington's three public golf courses, saying it had defaulted, and pursued a plan to rebuild East Potomac into a championship-level course. The National Park Service has since cut hundreds of trees there, prompting a lawsuit and a judge's emergency halt order.

1. Dec 30, 2025The Interior Department terminated National Links Trust's 50-year lease managing Rock Creek, East Potomac and Langston golf courses, saying the nonprofit had defaulted on rent and improvement obligations. National Links Trust disputed the default finding and said it had invested $8.5 million in capital improvements. Source ↗
2. May 4, 2026In a lawsuit by the DC Preservation League over the renovation, U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes told the government not to cut down more than 10 trees at East Potomac without notifying the plaintiffs first, though she declined to issue a broader restraining order. Source ↗
3. Oct 9, 2026In a court filing, the administration asked Judge Reyes to dismiss the lawsuit as premature, saying the "proposed project remains at an early and conceptual stage." Source ↗
4. Oct 10, 2026The National Park Service filed notice it would remove 169 trees at East Potomac over the weekend as part of a plan to eventually cut more than 500, saying in a court filing that none would be historic or healthy trees. Preservationists said the actual number felled by Monday was far higher, though the exact count is disputed. Source ↗
5. Oct 12, 2026Judge Reyes ordered a 24-hour halt to the tree-cutting after a three-hour hearing in which she said the government had deceived her over the holiday-weekend cutting. "I am thoroughly unamused right now," she said, adding she could extend the halt to 14 days. Source ↗
6. Oct 13, 2026Judge Reyes extended the halt, ordering tree-cutting stopped at East Potomac until Oct. 26 and requiring the government to give the court and plaintiffs three business days' written notice before any "irreparable modification" to a permanent feature of the course. Source ↗
7. Oct 13, 2026"Every single time I have given the government the benefit of the doubt ... every single time I made absolutely clear that I want notice," she said. "What has happened has cost the government all credibility with me." Source ↗
8. Oct 16, 2026The government filed a motion to disqualify Reyes from the case and move it to another district judge, saying her actions had shown "deep-seated and unequivocal antipathy toward the Trump Administration." Source ↗
9. Oct 18, 2026Trump posted on social media that he would close East Potomac for 15 months of redevelopment starting Nov. 15, without acknowledging the pending court challenge, saying the rebuilt course would be open to the public when completed and able to host tournaments such as the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship, the Ryder Cup and the Presidents Cup. Source ↗
10. Oct 18, 2026Democracy Forward, representing the plaintiffs, said the course is part of a national park and recreation facility meant for everyone to enjoy, and that its litigation aims to defend it from what the group called "unlawful and harmful intrusion." Source ↗
11. Oct 18, 2026Judge Reyes ordered the government to tell her by 8 p.m. EDT that Sunday whether its position had changed from a Friday court filing stating Trump had given "at most" "preliminary thought" to the plan and that "there is no final agency action." Source ↗
12. Oct 18, 2026The government responded by repeating that there was no final agency action, adding that in taking that position it had not represented "the actual position or mental impressions" of Trump but had relied on his public statements. Source ↗
13. Oct 18, 2026In a written order denying DOJ's request that she recuse herself, Judge Reyes wrote: "So what happened? Not sudden onset bias. Instead, the Government decided to remove over 500 healthy, non-invasive trees from East Potomac Golf Course. Source ↗
14. Oct 18, 2026"It waited until 4:55 p.m. on the Friday of a holiday weekend to give notice that it would begin removing trees within 15 hours. It removed nearly 430 trees in one day and would have destroyed hundreds more but for a rain delay," she wrote. Source ↗
15. Oct 19, 2026Trump called Reyes a "crazed lunatic" in a Monday-morning social media post and said work on the course was scheduled to begin "IMMEDIATELY." Source ↗
16. Oct 19, 2026At a seven-hour hearing, Reyes said she believes it's likely necessary to extend her halt on tree removal, rejecting the government's argument that the tree clearing was unrelated to Trump's renovation plan: "I mean, there is no universe in which all of this just coincidentally happened at the same time. There just isn't," she said. Source ↗
17. Oct 19, 2026Reyes added, "We did not go from zero to 'work is scheduled to begin immediately' in 60 seconds." Source ↗
18. Oct 19, 2026Administration officials testified they knew of no concrete renovation plan. Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward told Reyes, "There is no plan to close the course," calling Trump's directive something he would "like" to do. Acting NPS Director Jessica Bowron said she first learned of the planned closure from Trump's post. Source ↗
19. Oct 26, 2026Judge Reyes granted a preliminary injunction barring the government from removing or damaging any more trees at East Potomac and requiring 10 days' written notice before any "irreparable modification" to "forms or features" of the course while the suit is active. Source ↗
20. Oct 26, 2026That 10-day notice period is up from the three business days she had required in October. Source ↗
21. Oct 26, 2026"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. Source ↗
22. Oct 26, 2026The case "started as a case about golf" but "has become much more," she wrote, requiring her to reconcile Trump's own statements with sworn testimony from government employees and arguments from DOJ attorneys. Source ↗
23. Oct 26, 2026Democracy Forward President and CEO Skye Perryman, co-counsel for the plaintiffs, called the ruling "a big win that will rightly protect East Potomac Park from further irreparable harm." Source ↗
24. Oct 27, 2026Trump said in a Truth Social post that renovation work "must begin, immediately," and that the judge "has absolutely no right to hold up this very important and beautiful Project." Source ↗
25. Oct 30, 2026U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes ordered an investigation into whether Justice Department attorneys violated ethics rules in defending the case. "For months, the court trusted but did not verify," Reyes said. "No longer." Source ↗
26. Nov 7, 2026Judge Reyes said she intends to appoint Jessie Liu, a former U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia during Trump's first term, as special master to examine whether Interior Department and National Park Service officials and Justice Department attorneys violated ethics or misled her during the case. Source ↗
27. Nov 7, 2026 · LatestTrump had nominated Liu to be associate attorney general; she withdrew after running into opposition on the Republican-led Senate Judiciary Committee. Each side must respond in writing to the plan by the day of the next hearing in the case. Source ↗

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