Construction machinery on a golf course after the US President Donald Trump's administration cut down more than 400 trees at the historic East Potomac Golf Links, in Washington, DC, US, October 22, 2026. REUTERS/Umit Bektas
Donald Trump’s attempt to take over a public golf course in Washington, D.C., suffered another setback on Tuesday.
U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes ordered the Trump administration to preserve records and emails about its takeover of East Potomac Park, including communications among National Park Service officials, journalist Scott MacFarlane reported.
According to MacFarlane, Reyes is investigating whether Trump administration lawyers “lied to her” during the legal fight over the takeover. Last month, she opened a formal inquiry into whether officials and government attorneys made misrepresentations to the court, NPR reported, though she has stressed she hasn’t made any findings of wrongdoing.
The order requires the Interior Department, the National Park Service and the Justice Department, including the government lawyers who have appeared in the case, to preserve records dating to Aug. 1, 2025, on any redesign of the course and the decision to close part of East Potomac Park.
It specifically covers communications on the personal cell phone of Interior Deputy Chief of Staff Gregory Wischer related to the course, including any with golf course architect Tom Fazio, whom Trump enlisted for the project, or Gavin Fazio, as well as any with the National Garden of American Heroes Foundation. The order also requires the government to preserve five of Trump’s Truth Social posts about the course and to retain material it may claim is covered by executive or attorney-client privilege.
The government must file the name and title of every person covered by the order by Nov. 16.
The order escalates a running clash between Reyes and the administration. Last month, she scolded Justice Department lawyers for arguing she shouldn’t take the president at his word. “Rarely, if ever, has the United States Department of Justice urged a federal court not to believe the sitting President,” she wrote.
Trump responded to that ruling with a late-night Truth Social post blasting it as “unconstitutional” and complaining that she “has no expertise in Golf, Architecture, Landscaping, Construction, or anything else having to do with building such a World Class Project.” He vowed to take the fight to the D.C. Circuit.
The administration plans to close the East Potomac Golf Course on Nov. 15 for a renovation Trump says will make it a world-class venue for major tournaments such as the U.S. Open and the Ryder Cup, with discounted rates for D.C. residents.
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