Trump Administration Will Close East Potomac Golf Links Nov. 15 While Appealing Judge's Tree-Cutting Injunction

The public golf course three miles from the White House will close on Nov. 15, and the legal fight over what happens to it is moving to the appeals court.

In a filing Wednesday, Oct. 28, the National Park Service said it had signed a new lease with the National Links Trust, a nonprofit that operates municipal courses, to shut down East Potomac Golf Links for sweeping renovations. The agency also said it will submit plans Friday for what it calls "a World Class, championship-level golf course that is capable of hosting major events" to federal planning reviewers in the capital.

How the court fight got here

The lawsuit was filed in February by two golfers and the D.C. Preservation League. They challenge the environmental review for the project and the tree removals. They argue the work would cause irreversible damage and violate the congressional act that created East Potomac Park.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum posted a rendering by architect Tom Fazio on May 14. The plan shows a par-72, 7,660-yard, 18-hole layout with new water features, a practice area and a nine-hole short course. Burgum compared it to Bethpage Black and Torrey Pines and promised "highly discounted rates" for locals.

Then came the trees. The government told the court on Oct. 9 that restoration work, including tree removal, would happen. Over the Oct. 10-12 holiday weekend, crews cut hundreds. The Park Service count is roughly 430. The plaintiffs said 529 were down by Oct. 11.

The removal did not violate a court order, but Reyes, a Biden appointee, called it a breach of trust. "No you did not do your best. You did your absolute worst," she told a government lawyer at the Oct. 12 hearing. She said the cutting "has cost the government all of its credibility" and warned of contempt proceedings if her halt order was violated "by two seconds." She later said she became "furious" at that hearing.

Interior's account

Interior says the cutting is not part of Trump's overhaul. A spokesperson said the Park Service is "finally implementing a 7-year-old plan to address tree overgrowth," guided by the 2019 Cultural Landscape Report and meant to restore the course's historic character.

Deputy Park Service Director Frank Lands testified that he learned of the cutting plans Oct. 5, at Interior's direction, five days before work began. He said he was told to carry out the 2019 recommendations "as soon as practical" and did not know why the urgency had suddenly arisen. Reyes asked whether she had been given false information about the timing of conversations and plans. She has made no finding on that.

The Nov. 15 date

The closing date has been a moving target in the administration's own statements. Trump announced on social media that work would begin Nov. 15 and last about 15 months. At the Oct. 19 hearing, Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward told Reyes, "With regard to the November 15th date … there is no plan to close the course."

This week, after Reyes granted a preliminary injunction barring tree removal, Woodward's filing took a different line. He "acknowledges the president has twice directed" Interior and the Park Service to close the park by Nov. 15 and said Interior is developing a plan to carry that out. The injunction also requires 10 days' notice before any closure outside federal holidays or regular schedules.

The Park Service filing and the lease are the first concrete steps toward a closure in the record. Neither has been tested in court.

Government lawyers filed a notice of appeal with the D.C. Circuit on Wednesday. A tentative hearing is set for Friday or Monday.

The fight with the judge

The case has turned personal. Woodward asked for Reyes to be removed, accusing her of bias and "open hostility." Reyes rejected that bid. Hours before the Oct. 19 hearing, Trump called her a "crazed lunatic" on Truth Social and suggested her courtroom tapes will reveal she "may be insane." Trump and Woodward have both demanded release of the audio.

Reyes had invoked Rule 11 and demanded that the Justice Department attorneys arguing the case sign Woodward's Sunday brief. She withdrew that demand near the end of the nearly seven-hour hearing: "we've all got better things to spend our time on." She also told the court she was receiving threats over the case.

Trump has argued the plaintiffs have "ZERO STANDING" and that Interior may do the renovation "as of right," without approval. He has also said the order is "time-consuming, unnecessary, expensive, and unconstitutional."

Late Wednesday, Trump called the course "highly dangerous, dilapidated, and absolutely disgusting." He posted photos he said showed holes in the driving range netting and damage to the range building. He claimed a White House staffer was "hit violently in the chest" by a ball. He wrote that the administration would "hold the judge, Ana C. Reyes, fully responsible for anybody who is hurt, or killed." No source has identified the staffer or independently confirmed the account.

What the plans would change

Trump says the finished course will stay affordable for locals. Green fees today are the same for residents and nonresidents and run from $16 to $48. No filing cited here sets a price for the new course.

The Fazio rendering Trump posted would remove Ohio Drive, the road looping the course, so the layout could move closer to the Potomac. Ohio Drive is a popular route for city residents to bike, run and watch birds. The plaintiffs argue the project would harm the park's historic landscape. No cost estimate or funding source has been disclosed in the filings.

The next markers are the D.C. Circuit hearing, set tentatively for Friday, Oct. 30 or Monday, Nov. 2, and the Park Service's planning submission. If the injunction stands and the closure goes ahead Nov. 15, the courts will then have to decide what the Park Service may build.