Daniel Wolfram
The Trump administration decided to cut down over 400 trees over the weekend in Washington, DC, at a golf course. That did not go over well with the court.
Donald Trump and his administration are pushing the envelope and testing the boundaries of the American judicial system to see what they can get away with during his second term.
Another example of that occurred yesterday in a courtroom in Washington, DC, where a Biden-appointed judge halted tree removal.
By that time, however, the administration had already cut down more than 400 of the trees in preparation for a redeveloped Trump golf course. That made the judge irate.
‘Cost the government all credibility’
Judge Ana Reyes unleashed her fury at the Trump administration lawyers during an emergency hearing after it was reported that 430 trees were illegally cut down on the East Potomac Golf Links, a century-old public golf course on National Park Service land, over the weekend.
According to Judge Reyes, the government decided on October 7 that it would start cutting down the trees over the holiday weekend, but did not notify the court until October 9 – right before the tree cutting started.
That made the judge see red: “I trusted you all not to do precisely what you have done,” the judge shouted at the lawyers, according to Politico, before adding, “What has happened has cost the government all credibility with me in this case. You’ve lost credibility!”
‘You did your absolute worst!’
Then a blistering encounter ensued between Judge Ana Reyes and Trump’s lawyers.
According to Washington Sun reporter Reese Gorman, the lawyers did not even try to hide that they had misled the court.
Judge Reyes asked the lawyers, “On what universe did anyone in your office think this was acceptable?” – referring to cutting down the trees without proper warning.
The government lawyers then answered, “Your Honor, we did our best,” to which Judge Reyes snapped back, “No, you did not do your best. You did your absolute worst!”
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Trump’s Deputy Chief of Staff chimes in
It then became evident that this matter was important to Trump, so much so that Stephen Miller, his deputy chief of staff, also chimed in to mock the judge.
“I missed the part of the Constitutional Convention that put federal judges in charge of golf course maintenance. The Left is endlessly enraged that, after allowing DC to decay for decades, the Trump Administration is making it safe, clean and beautiful.”
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Judge Reyes had already anticipated that defense during the hearing, noting that micromanaging public parks was never her goal.
“I have done everything humanly possible to give the government the benefit of the doubt in this case. I actually don’t think courts should be playing Parks and Rec.”
