Trump attacks judge as controversial East Potomac Golf plans spark tense courtroom showdown

President Donald Trump announced plans to begin construction at East Potomac Golf Links just two days after government lawyers told a federal judge no further work was imminent, prompting a tense courtroom confrontation Monday over the administration’s assurances.

The hearing before Judge Ana Reyes followed Trump’s social-media attack on her and the Justice Department’s unsuccessful effort to have her removed from the case. Last week, Reyes ordered work halted until Oct. 26 after the administration removed more than 400 trees from the property.

The future of the Washington, D.C., municipal course has been the subject of a year-long fight involving the Trump administration, the National Links Trust and the local community. As Golf Digest reported in a longform feature earlier this year, Trump wants to transform East Potomac, which sits in the shadow of the Washington Monument, into a championship course potentially capable of hosting major championships and a Ryder Cup.

RELATED: They rescued D.C.'s munys. Then Trump took over. Inside the fight between the president and public golf

The property had been managed by the National Links Trust, a nonprofit awarded a National Park Service 50-year lease during Trump’s first term to operate three public courses in Washington. NLT planned to renovate the courses, restore their architecture and improve services while keeping golf affordable. The work was to be led by several of the game’s most respected architects in Tom Doak, Gil Hanse and his partner Jim Wagner, and Beau Welling.

Those plans unraveled as the administration moved to take control of the properties, at one point dumping debris from the demolished White House East Wing onto East Potomac. On Jan. 1, the administration terminated NLT’s lease, offering justifications that one NLT official described to Golf Digest as “genuinely one of the most ridiculous and disappointing things I’ve ever read.”

Golf Digest also reported that architect Tom Fazio, who has designed four Trump courses, toured East Potomac under an alias in late 2025. Public records show he visited the White House that afternoon and stayed for more than three hours. Fazio is now expected to lead the redesign.

The takeover became newsworthy, both against the backdrop of Trump rebrandishing civic institutions with his name and the juxtaposition of the NLT’s mission to bring affordable public golf against Trump’s portfolio of courses, which feature some of the highest priced green fees in the sport.

NLT continues to operate the two other courses but at East Potomac a lawsuit over environmental concerns surrounding the dumping emerged. That legal hearing took on new urgency last week when the administration removed more than 400 trees with little warning. Reyes rebuked government lawyers, saying the work violated her instructions regarding changes to the property during the proceedings, and ordered a halt to all work until Oct. 26.

Government lawyers told the court Friday there were no immediate plans for further construction. On Sunday, however, Trump announced revised plans that eliminated a proposed executive course, bike trails and other public uses to accommodate an expanded championship layout. He also said the course would close soon for construction.

Trump attacked Reyes on social media as well. “The judge on the case is a crazed lunatic whose courthouse tapes will reveal, may be insane?” he wrote.

The Justice Department had separately filed a motion seeking to disqualify Reyes. She denied that request.

Monday’s hearing opened with Reyes asking Justice Department officials to raise their hands if they agreed with a filing submitted by the associate attorney general that sought to reconcile the government’s earlier statements with Trump’s announcement. When government lawyers called the request “inappropriate,” Reyes responded: “I’m the one who’s going to say how we move today, not you.”

Reyes also questioned Interior Department officials about what they knew of Trump’s plans when the trees were removed last week.

“There is no universe in which all of this just coincidentally happened at the same time,” she said.

Trump has said construction will begin Nov. 15 and take up to 15 months. Left unsaid is if that also includes rebuilding a seawall. In the NLT's initial plan, before any work could begin at East Potomac, the seawall guarding the park must be fully rebuilt to address significant drainage issues, which could cost up to $600 million.

Read more about this plans for the course here.