Trump says East Potomac Golf Links will close Nov. 15 for a Fazio redesign as court fight over trees continues

As of 9:27 a.m. ET, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026

Update (Oct. 27, 2026, 9:27 a.m. ET): This story has been updated with a preliminary injunction issued Monday, Oct. 26, by U.S. District Judge Ana C. Reyes that bars further tree removal at East Potomac Park and requires the government to give at least 10 business days' written notice before closing the golf course or making irreversible changes to the park.

President Donald Trump said Sunday that East Potomac Golf Links, a public course on National Park Service land in Washington, D.C., will close on Nov. 15 so that work can begin on a redesign by golf course architect Tom Fazio.

"Restoration work will begin on the Fazio Design on November 15th, when the old Course will be closed to play. The new Course will be opened in approximately 15 months," Trump wrote on Truth Social.

He said the finished course "will be open to the Public" and able to host events such as the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship, the Ryder Cup and the Presidents Cup.

No cost estimate for the renovation has been made public, Golfweek reported.

Reuters reported that a federal judge had ordered that the renovation could not proceed without prior court notification. It said the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether Trump's announcement would conflict with the judge's directives. Trump had said earlier this year that the work would begin in September, Reuters reported.

Court fight over trees

The announcement comes amid a federal lawsuit over the project. National Park Service crews cut down 430 trees at the course on Oct. 10, after giving the groups suing to stop the removal notice at 4:55 p.m. the day before, according to Golfweek.

At an emergency hearing Oct. 12, U.S. District Judge Ana C. Reyes told government lawyers she was "furious" and "deeply disappointed in the government". She then barred further tree removal through Oct. 26 and ordered senior Interior Department and Park Service officials to testify at a hearing on Monday, Oct. 19, The Washington Post reported. The Park Service has said about 300 more trees could be removed.

Reuters put the number of trees removed at about 500. It reported that the government said the removal would improve safety at the park and restore its original design, and that it was part of a 2019 plan that predates Trump's ambitions for the course. In an Oct. 9 court filing, the administration had asked Reyes to dismiss the case as premature because the "proposed project remains at an early and conceptual stage," Reuters reported. The DC Preservation League filed the lawsuit in February, alleging that the takeover of the course would violate environmental laws and "irreparably destroy a priceless piece of American history," according to Reuters.

On Friday, the Justice Department asked Reyes to recuse herself and transfer the case, accusing her of bias and "animus" toward the administration, the Post reported. The motion was signed by Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward. It said Reyes's actions had shown "deep-seated and unequivocal antipathy toward the Trump Administration," Reuters reported, citing court records. According to the government's filing, the plaintiffs oppose the request. Reyes had not ruled on it as of this article's time stamp. The administration also asked her to lift the order blocking tree removal and to cancel Monday's hearing.

Democracy Forward, which represents the plaintiffs, said in a statement Sunday that its litigation is intended to "protect this community jewel for the people and communities it serves," according to Golfweek, citing the Associated Press.

Judge grants preliminary injunction

On Monday, Oct. 26, Reyes granted the plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction in DC Preservation League v. Department of the Interior, No. 1:26-cv-477. Her order bars the government and its contractors from cutting, removing or otherwise damaging any tree in East Potomac Park without a court order, except to address an imminent threat to public safety, with notice to the court within 24 hours.

The order also requires the government to give the court and the plaintiffs at least 10 business days' written notice before any closure of the golf course, in whole or in part, other than regularly scheduled closures such as federal holidays, and before any irreversible change to the park's landforms, vegetation, course design, hydrology, pathways or structures. Any such notice must state, among other things, who authorized the action and whether it is connected to any Fazio design.

"This started as a case about golf. That good walk spoiled. But it has become much more," Reyes wrote in her memorandum opinion. "It now forces the Court to reconcile assertions by President Donald J. Trump with the sworn testimony of multiple government employees and the argument of senior Department of Justice attorneys." She found that the plaintiffs are likely to succeed on their claim that the Interior Department violated the National Environmental Policy Act, NBC News and AP reported.

"Rarely, if ever, has the United States Department of Justice urged a federal court not to believe the sitting President," Reyes wrote, according to NBC News. "And yet, here we are."

The order directs the Interior Department to notify its relevant employees by Oct. 28 and Fazio Designs, Tom Fazio and Gavin Fazio by Oct. 30, and orders the government to show cause by 10 a.m. Oct. 28 why it should not be ordered to preserve information about the plan and the timing of the tree removal.

Democracy Forward President and CEO Skye Perryman called the ruling "a big win that will rightly protect East Potomac park from further irreparable harm," NBC reported. The White House and the Justice Department had not publicly responded to the ruling in the sources reviewed for this update.

Why it matters

Trump's Nov. 15 date set a timeline for closing a public course while a federal judge weighed the challenge. Reyes's preliminary injunction does not set or cancel a closure date, but it requires at least 10 business days' written notice to the court and the plaintiffs before any closure.