U.S. District Judge Ana C. Reyes was “furious” Monday after the Trump administration pushed ahead with one of its Washington, D.C., beautification projects without giving the notice she had explicitly ordered, Politico’s Kyle Cheney reported.
Among his many D.C. beautification projects, President Donald Trump has proposed overhauling the East Potomac Golf Course, a publicly owned golf course on federal parkland. In May, Reyes instructed the Trump administration to provide her advance notice before removing more than 10 trees at the site.
The Trump administration reportedly moved forward with a new round of tree cutting over the weekend without informing Reyes, with plans to ultimately remove as many as 529 trees.
“Judge Reyes is furious,” Cheney wrote in a live update of the court proceedings. “She has repeatedly told the government to inform her before any major demolition work was done on the golf course.”
The Trump administration’s open defiance, Reyes said, had “cost the government all of its credibility” in its case, Cheney reported.
Earlier Monday, Reyes ordered the Trump administration to halt all tree cutting at the East Potomac Golf Course until at least 7 a.m. Tuesday and demanded to know who approved the project to move forward.
HAPPENING NOW: Judge Reyes is furious. She has repeatedly told the government to inform her before any major demolition work was done on the golf course. The abrupt removal of 500 trees, without notice, "has cost the government all of its credibility" in this case.
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) October 12, 2026