Judge Demands Answers About Plans for Trump's East Potomac Golf Course

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: New York Times

Judge Demands Answers About Plans for Trump's East Potomac Golf Course

In a fiery hearing, Judge Ana C. Reyes hammered the government over denials that the president was forging ahead with plans to renovate the course without approval.



President Trump inspected plans for his proposed renovation of the East Potomac Golf Course on Sunday. Eric Lee for The New York Times

By Zach Montague
https://www.nytimes.com/by/zach-montague
Reporting from Washington

July 2, 2026, 5:27 p.m. ET

A federal judge on Thursday confronted a Justice Department lawyer about President Trump's plans to build a championship-level golf course on a peninsula in Washington, after she ordered the department to come before her with more specific details about possible construction. ... Judge Ana C. Reyes of the Federal District Court in Washington grew impatient during a hearing in which Michael Robertson, the government lawyer, struggled to provide a timeline or vision for what appeared to be accelerating efforts by the president to start work on transforming the East Potomac Golf Links.

It was the latest in a long series of standoffs and mistrustful interactions between federal judges and the Trump administration over the president's second-term efforts to remake parts of the capital. ... On Thursday, she drew parallels to the ways Mr. Trump had secretively rushed to begin other construction projects before the government acknowledged they were underway, including the ballroom the president is building to replace the East Wing of the White House.

{snip}

Judge Reyes pressed Mr. Robertson to confirm that despite indications the president had already commissioned a design from Mr. Fazio, there was no formal effort underway to renovate the course. ... "I just want to make sure it's loud and clear to the White House that the government's position in a U.S. courtroom -- in front of a federal judge -- is that there has not been a decision made to pursue this golf course," she said. "That it's still 'maybe he will, maybe he won't."

"Our position is: Both things can be true," Mr. Robertson said, indicating that federal agencies were still deliberating even as Mr. Trump moved ahead with planning. ... "No, both things cannot be true," she said, adding: "So assuming that you don't believe in multiple universes: On this earth, we have a decision that's been made about a golf course."

Zach Montague is a Times reporter covering the federal courts, including the legal disputes over the Trump administration's agenda.
https://www.nytimes.com/by/zach-montague

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/02/us/politics/trump-golf-course-plans-doj.html

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Hat tip, Joe.My.God.

https://www.joemygod.com/2026/07/judge-wants-answers-on-trumps-dc-golf-course-plan/

[spooky3]

1. Thanks for posting this. Go Judge Reyes! Nt

[Deuxcents]

2. A disaster in the making unless he's stopped. No effort at all to work on the issues of the country..just his projects

[Karma13612]

3. Is this the area where they will need to convert

lovely open public spaces and bike paths?

That is disgusting, if true.

[spooky3]

4. Yes nt

[Karma13612]

6. Those cruel monsters

Bike paths are so popular as everyone is getting more into biking! E-bikes are popular especially with older folk getting to be more active with an easier ride.

Everything he touches is made WORSE!!!!

[William Seger]

5. The corruptly partisan Supreme Court says #rump is above the law ...

... and he will extend that immunity to people who carry out his illegal orders -- so how do we stop the mad emperor? It was extraordinarily difficult to use our courts to remove his name from the Kennedy Center, and that was damage that could mostly be undone.-- unlike destroying the historic East Wing and Rose Garden, and some of the other things still in the planning stages.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

7. Judge won't stop East Potomac Golf Links plans, but she's not throwing the case out

[link:https://wtop.com/dc/2026/07/judge-wont-stop-east-potomac-plans-but-
shes-not-throwing-the-case-out-either/|Judge won’t stop East Potomac Golf Links plans, but she’s not throwing the case out]

Mike Murillo | [e-mail]
July 2, 2026, 9:54 PM

A federal judge isn’t yet interfering with the Trump administration’s plans for East Potomac Golf Links, but she also isn’t ready to dismiss the lawsuit challenging the work. ... The case was filed by the D.C. Preservation League and two local golfers, who argue the administration is moving too quickly toward a major makeover of the historic public golf course without first going through the required review process.

During Thursday’s hearing, Judge Ana Reyes kept coming back to a Truth Social post President Donald Trump made after touring the course over the weekend with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and golf architect Tom Fazio. In that post, Trump said Fazio, who has designed several Trump golf courses, would redesign East Potomac and that work would begin Sept. 1.

“Either the President just pulled the date out of thin air and never heard from anybody about it, or never talked to anybody about it, and it’s, who knows what he was talking about. It’s either that, or there is a Sept. 1 date that means something,” Reyes said.

Government attorney Michael Robertson argued that no contracts have been signed with Fazio or anyone else and that any major renovation would still have to go through environmental reviews and other required steps. But when pressed, they didn’t dispute Trump’s public statement that work could begin Sept. 1. ... “I don’t know exactly where that came from your honor, but what I do know is NPS and Interior are now trying to meet that schedule,” Robertson said.

{snip}

Mike Murillo
Mike Murillo is a reporter and anchor at WTOP. Before joining WTOP in 2013, he worked in radio in Orlando, New York City and Philadelphia.
[e-mail]
@MikeMurilloWTOP
mikemurilloWTOP.1035