A federal judge on Monday said she was “furious” with the Trump administration’s move over the weekend to cut down at least 430 trees from a Washington, DC, public golf course that President Donald Trump is seeking to renovate.

US District Judge Ana Reyes, who is overseeing a legal challenge to Trump’s plans to overhaul the East Potomac Golf Course, put a tentative hold on any further tree removal and is holding an emergency hearing Monday, in which she told Justice Department attorneys they had lost “credibility” with her because they gave less than a day’s notice before cutting down the trees.

“More than just being upset and furious right now, I am just beyond disappointed with the government,” Reyes said. When a DOJ attorney said they had done their “best” to give her and the plaintiffs a heads-up, the judge said, her voice raised, “No, you did your absolute worst.”

“I am thoroughly unamused right now,” Reyes also said.

  • Optional@lemmy.world
    2·
    58 minutes ago

    She demanded that two National Park Service officials appear at the virtual hearing, which lasted more than three hours, to testify about how the plans to remove the trees came to be. The project came out of an October 5 meeting, one of the officials testified, during which the official was told to carry out a seven-year-old proposal seeking to restore the course’s “cultural” heritage.