WASHINGTON — A federal judge slammed the brakes on the Trump administration's renovation of a historic Washington, DC golf course on Monday, ordering an emergency halt to tree-cutting after accusing government lawyers of misleading her about work crews racing through the Columbus Day holiday weekend.

U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes issued the order after a three-hour emergency hearing, barring any further tree removal at East Potomac Park's golf course for at least 24 hours, with the option to extend the pause up to 14 days. The hearing came after crews felled trees over the holiday with what the judge said was little notice to either the plaintiffs suing to stop the project or to the court itself.

"I AM THOROUGHLY UNAMUSED RIGHT NOW."

"I wanted you all to be better than you have been," Reyes told government lawyers, according to a pool report of the hearing. She had previously turned down the plaintiffs' earlier requests to halt the work, making Monday's reversal notable.

A rushed job, officials testify

Interior Department officials defended the timing in testimony. Kevin Griess, superintendent of the National Mall and Memorial Parks, said the removals were guided by a 2019 National Park Service Cultural Landscape Report. But Frank Lands, the Park Service's deputy director of operations, testified that Greg Wischer, a deputy chief of staff at Interior, had pushed for the work to be carried out urgently — part of a 2025 presidential order to make the nation's capital "safe and beautiful." Lands acknowledged the same landscape report touches on other DC golf courses, but said there had been no discussion of similar work there.

The East Potomac Park course dates to the 1920s and was fully desegregated in 1941. The lawsuit, brought by preservation advocates represented by attorney Abbe Lowell, argues the renovation plans violate the 1897 congressional act that created the park.

What's next

Reyes ordered several decision-makers to appear remotely as the government tries to track down the official who can explain why the holiday-weekend cutting was necessary. A follow-up hearing was set for Monday, October 19 — today — where Reyes said she wants to hear directly from Wischer and from Jessica Bowron, the Park Service's acting director, about who gave the final order and why it couldn't wait.

The fight is the latest flashpoint in a string of courtroom clashes over the administration's push to remake federal land in the capital, with Reyes warning she has little patience left for being kept in the dark.