Trump says Interior has "an absolute right" to renovate the course and calls the judge "a crazed lunatic"
Donald TrumpPresident of the United States
Trump says the Interior Department has an absolute right to turn the course into a great and safe one, calls the judge a crazed lunatic, and says work is scheduled to begin immediately.
Responding to
The Park Service's tree removal at East Potomac Golf Course is a step in the administration's plan to rebuild the course and was carried out without the environmental review the National Environmental Policy Act requires.
“The United States Department of Interior wants to take a terrible and very unsafe golf course, and make it into a great, safe, and prestigious golf course. They have an absolute right to do so. It’s as simple as that! The judge on the case is a crazed lunatic whose courthouse tapes will reveal, may be insane?”
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Where this statement fits
Judge bars further tree removal at East Potomac Golf Course and rejects a Justice Department motion to disqualify her
The National Park Service removed about 430 trees from East Potomac Golf Course in Washington on October 10, 2026, the morning after the government gave notice in a lawsuit by the DC Preservation League and two golfers that challenges the Trump administration's plans for the course. U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes barred further removal, finding the plaintiffs likely to show the agency did not comply with required environmental review. The government then moved to disqualify her for bias, and she denied the motion on October 18. The next day President Trump attacked the judge and said work would begin immediately.
Source and context
Original text
About this source
Trump says the Interior Department has an absolute right to renovate the course without approval, says the plaintiff golfer has no standing, and attacks the judge.
Original text
About this source
Trump says the Interior Department and golf course architect Tom Fazio have developed a plan for a championship course on the site, open to the public, with restoration work to begin on November 15. Reyes took judicial notice of the post the same day.
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About this source
The plaintiffs filed Trump's October 19 post with the court, reproducing it in full with a screenshot as an exhibit.
Before the quotation
Trump posted the message at 6:08 a.m. Eastern time on October 19, a day after he announced a design by Tom Fazio for a championship course on the site.
After the quotation
He wrote that the golfer who brought the lawsuit has no standing, that Interior does not need an approval for the renovation and that work was scheduled to begin immediately.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
The reference point is the Interior Department's October 2026 removal of trees at East Potomac Golf Course and its plans to rebuild the course. Trump says the department has "an absolute right to do so" and does not need an approval, so we labeled it Defended or excused. The closest competing label is Challenged the characterization; it loses because he endorses the work itself rather than disputing how it has been described.
- Recorded on
- Published here
- People and groups discussed
- Ana C. Reyes
More from this case
Read the full caseReyes denies the disqualification motion, saying what happened was not bias but the government's decision to remove trees
“So what happened? Not sudden onset bias. Instead, the Government decided to remove over 500 healthy, non-invasive trees from East Potomac Golf Course.”Read statement
DC Preservation League says the government razed hundreds of trees before the plaintiffs could challenge the work
DC Preservation League
“But, on October 10, Defendants did exactly what they said they would not do: they razed hundreds of trees on the golf course before Plaintiffs had an opportunity to challenge Defendants’ actions.”Read statement
Government's disqualification motion calls the work authorized tree maintenance
U.S. Department of the Interior
“Notably, all of this concerned the government’s performance of authorized tree maintenance in East Potomac Park.”Read statement
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The Dispute Index. "Trump says Interior has "an absolute right" to renovate the course and calls the judge "a crazed lunatic"". First published: 2026-10-20. Last updated: 2026-10-20. https://disputeindex.com/events/6249-trump-says-the-interior-department-has-an-absolute