Judge blocks Trump from cutting down trees at East Potomac Park. Days later, the president names her as the one to blame if anyone dies on the course

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., issued an order on Monday that prevents the Trump administration from carrying out additional renovations at East Potomac Park. U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes granted a preliminary injunction requested by a preservationist organization. Mediaite points out that the ruling followed the removal of 430 trees from the municipal golf course after less than 24 hours’ notice.

President Trump has aimed to turn the public course into a premier golf venue. The judge scheduled a hearing to occur within one week of her decision. She also directed the administration to provide 10 days’ notice before any “irreparable modification” to any “forms or features” to the court while the case remains ongoing.

On Wednesday night, the president responded with a long post on Truth Social that addressed both the course’s condition and Judge Reyes by name. He described the site as unsafe and in poor condition, sharing images he said documented problems at the driving range building.

President’s Truth Social message details course hazards and renovation goals

In the post, Trump stated that “East Potomac Golf Course is highly dangerous, dilapidated, and absolutely disgusting.” He referred to photos showing “excrement in the stairwell” of the driving range building.

He wrote that “The gaping holes in the driving range’s ‘protective’ netting are highly hazardous” and that “Golf balls soar through the holes at high speed and hit unexpecting Golfers – including a White House staffer who was, sadly, hit violently in the chest.”

The president said, “The driving range building itself is falling apart, and its structural stability is terrible. It should be closed immediately for safety reasons!” He noted that “The exposed nails and disintegrating wood also endanger young Golfers – Not a good situation!” Trump wrote that residents of Washington, D.C., and the nation “deserve so much better, like a beautiful, safe, affordable, accessible, sanitary, and CLEAN driving range!”

He added that “No one will be more thrilled by our plans to renovate the Course and Driving Range than the Local Golfers who have played there for years, and have begged to have their Home Course brought into pristine condition.” The driving range, he said, “should provide Golfers with stunning views of the Washington Monument, not of a barren, debris-ridden wasteland” and “should NOT be a threat to life and limb.”

Trump called the present state “a National Disgrace” but said the work would create “a WORLD CLASS PUBLIC Golf Course that is AFFORDABLE for locals – Just like the Great and Historic Public Courses of Torrey Pines and Bethpage Black, only better, for the good of our now Beautiful Again Washington, D.C.”

He wrote that afterward “the East Potomac Course will be a place of immeasurable Pride for the City, all of the Golf Enthusiasts who live here, a Course worthy of and befitting our Nation’s Capital.” The court’s concern began with the 430 trees cut down over the weekend.

The post ended with the statement “We will hold the judge, Ana C. Reyes, fully responsible for anybody who is hurt, or killed, on this very dangerous, dilapidated, and unsightly Golf Course. GOD BLESS AMERICA! President DONALD J. TRUMP.”

East Potomac Park marks the latest Washington, D.C., site where the president has pursued changes, after work on a ballroom at the former East Wing location, paving of the Rose Garden, addition of a presidential “Walk of Fame,” renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, and an effort to place his name on the Kennedy Center. That dispute ended with the board voting to close the venue. The message appeared days before the midterm elections that will decide control of both houses of Congress.