President Donald Trump’s latest attack on East Potomac Golf Links comes as a federal judge’s preliminary finding that officials rushed tree removal to advance his redesign sharpens a dispute over the public course’s future.
In a Truth Social post late Oct. 19, Trump called the course “Trash Island” and said his proposed overhaul would create an “Island of Beauty and Success.” He described the course as unsafe. The proposal would combine its three public layouts into one course intended for championship play. Trump had announced that work would start immediately and set Nov. 15 for the course’s closure, with reopening expected after about 15 months.
The DC Preservation League and two golfers are challenging the redevelopment, arguing that it threatens affordable public golf and violates federal protections. The National Park Service felled about 430 trees on Oct. 10, according to U.S. District Judge Ana C. Reyes’ Oct. 13 opinion. Reyes described the trees as healthy and noninvasive and barred further cutting through Oct. 26. She said the challengers were likely to succeed on an argument that officials had not properly assessed the tree-removal plan’s environmental effects.
The administration says the tree work followed the 2019 Cultural Landscape Report and was separate from Trump’s proposed redesign. Reyes offered a different preliminary view: based on the limited record before her, officials accelerated the removal plan because Trump wanted the redesign to move quickly.
At an Oct. 19 hearing, Reyes asked officials about the gap between Trump’s statement that a final plan existed and the government’s position that National Park Service review was incomplete, The Associated Press reported. The broader lawsuit remains pending. The court’s limits on tree cutting and Trump’s immediate-work announcement were covered in an earlier EconoTimes report. Further tree cutting is barred through Oct. 26 unless the court acts sooner.
