President Trump warned that Judge Ana Reyes will be held fully responsible for anyone hurt on the dilapidated East Potomac golf course after she extended a renovation block.
Late Wednesday, the president took to Truth Social and unloaded on a fresh court order that keeps his administration from cutting more trees at the Washington, D.C., course he wants rebuilt as a championship-level public facility.
U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes this week extended limits on tree removal at East Potomac Park. Trump answered by posting photos of torn netting, yellow grass, and feces and declaring the site a national disgrace that still endangers players.
The Hill reported that Trump said his administration would hold Reyes “fully responsible for anybody who is hurt, or killed, on this very dangerous, dilapidated, and unsightly Golf Course.”
He described the grounds as “highly dangerous, dilapidated, and absolutely disgusting,” and vowed to deliver a “WORLD CLASS PUBLIC Golf Course that is AFFORDABLE for locals.”
The fight did not start this week. Earlier this month, Reyes granted a preliminary injunction after the administration felled more than 400 trees in the park without what she called adequate notice.
At an emergency hearing on Oct. 12, she dressed down the government’s lawyers in open court.
Judge Reyes told them:
“I trusted you all not to do precisely what you have done,”
She also said the government had lost “all of its credibility” in the case and called for another hearing.
Under the order now in force, the administration cannot cut, alter, or harm additional trees except for public safety. It must give 10 days’ notice before closing the course or making irreversible design changes.
The New York Post reported that the administration had notified the court of plans to cut as many as 529 trees, then moved quickly and took down hundreds, which triggered the emergency hearing and the tighter restrictions. Trump has said the course would close Nov. 15 for roughly 15 months of work on a Tom Fazio design.
East Potomac Park holds three golf courses, including an affordable 18-hole public layout that draws tens of thousands of players a week. Trump argues the current conditions turn a basic public amenity into a liability.
In the same Truth Social post, he zeroed in on the driving range and the view of the Washington Monument that golfers should enjoy.
President Trump wrote:
“The driving range should provide Golfers with stunning views of the Washington Monument, not of a barren, debris-ridden wasteland,”
He added a blunt safety line:
“The driving range should NOT be a threat to life and limb.”
He shared images of torn protective netting and other decay to back the claim. No injuries or deaths have been reported in the coverage; Trump’s warning is forward-looking and pinned directly on the judge’s continued restraints.
The legal fight has grown sharper as Trump’s public timeline collides with earlier statements from Justice Department lawyers.
Breitbart reported that Reyes ordered Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward into court after Trump posted that the course would close Nov. 15 as planned and that the judge lacked constitutional authority to demand time-consuming notices. Reyes had already issued a lengthy ruling finding the administration likely violated environmental laws by tearing down hundreds of trees. She noted that the Justice Department was effectively asking a federal court not to believe the sitting president.
A separate marathon hearing produced another retreat from the bench. Fox News reported that Reyes, after nearly seven hours, withdrew a Rule 11 demand that DOJ attorneys personally identify themselves on a filing about the golf-course plans. “I’m going to withdraw request that DOJ refile yesterday’s brief with identification of who signed it. we’ve all got better things to spend our time on,” she said. The National Park Service had already removed roughly 430 trees before a temporary restraining order halted further cuts.
Trump’s project is framed as a fix for locals who already use the park’s public courses. The administration wants a modern, affordable layout instead of a facility he calls a debris-ridden hazard. Preservation challenges and the injunction have slowed the work and left the safety dispute in open view.
Reyes still requires advance notice before any closure or irreversible redesign and still bars additional tree work outside narrow public-safety exceptions. Trump says those limits leave a dangerous site in place and that the judge who imposed them will own the consequences if someone is hurt.
The president has made clear he intends to press ahead with the renovation despite the rulings. The next hearing date has not been locked down in the available reporting, and the full formal order text has not been released in the coverage summarized here.
Local golfers and taxpayers get stuck with a rundown public course while lawyers argue over trees and notice. A safer, affordable facility should not be this hard to deliver.
