'You did not do your best': 'Furious' judge says Trump DOJ lawyers 'cost' government 'all its credibility' in golf course case, floats contempt

A "furious" federal judge who repeatedly had given DOJ lawyers in a civil case the benefit of the doubt insisted that the "government is not going to lie to me" about the Trump administration's golf course overhaul during a hearing on Monday.

Since at least May, U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes stressed that she did "not want to be the overseer of Parks and Rec," even as the plaintiff, the D.C. Preservation League, warned that the Trump administration was going to slow-walk its plans until nothing could be done to stop them.

At every turn, the Joe Biden-appointed jurist was careful not to block the government from routine maintenance, even praising DOJ attorney Michael Robertson's "terrific" advocacy in a difficult case. In early September, Reyes said "no government attorney has violated one of my orders."

She also added that Robertson gave her "no reason to doubt" his representations up to that point.

As soon as Monday's hearing began, however, it was clear Reyes was incensed, stating "there is no doubt" that "what has happened has cost the government all of its credibility with me in this case."

"At 4:55 p.m. on a Friday of a holiday weekend, the plaintiff and I get, what, 12 hours' notice that hundreds of trees are going to be chopped down starting the next morning, and somehow government counsel wasn't available to meet and confer with the plaintiffs until Sunday at 11," Reyes said, demanding answers.

Marissa Piropato, the deputy chief in DOJ's Environment and Natural Resources Division, appeared in court for the government, first entering an appearance in the case on Friday.

The judge shouted "ma'am" at Piropato when the lawyer claimed there were two parts to the answer to the question of when government lawyers were "aware that this program" was "going to start on Saturday."

Piropato said that she first learned late on Oct. 7 about the "possibility" of activity, but received no details.

"Why don't you ask for details?" the judge yelled.

"We did ask for details," Piropato replied, saying they "did our best."

"No, I'm sorry. Ignorance is not an excuse here," Reyes shot back, stating that the plaintiff and the court should have been informed. "Oh, you did not do your best. You did your absolute worst."

Reyes construed the omission as a "conscious decision" based on the history of "this litigation, and everything I have said, and the number of times I have said it, and the amount of benefit of the doubt that I have given the government."

"[N]o one could have thought or overlooked the fact that the plaintiff should have gotten notice immediately. There is no excuse for this, and you know why I'm furious right now, because I was hearing from everybody on plaintiff's side that this was going to happen, and I said repeatedly, 'No, I trust the government,'" the judge went on.

Reyes said she talks to "law students all the time" and that the "number one question I get asked is" whether she thinks the government is acting in "good faith."

"And I always say, yes. And I always say I trust the government lawyers. I say I've had nothing but good experiences with the government lawyers. I say that not a single government lawyer has violated one of my orders. I think I said that at the last hearing in this case," the judge said. "You know, more than just being upset and furious right now, I am just beyond disappointed in the government."

The judge reminded the DOJ that the government defendants were ordered to "cease all tree removal at East Potomac Golf Course until 7:00 am on October 13, 2026, or further order from the Court," and that consequences could follow.

"I promise you, if that order is violated by two seconds, there are going to be contempt proceedings," she told Piropato.

From there, the judge put National Mall and Memorial Parks (NAMA) Superintendent Kevin Griess under oath to explain why compliance with a 2019 Cultural Landscape Report or CLR was the justification for mass tree removal at only one golf course on a holiday weekend.

Griess swore on Friday in a declaration that the National Park Service "estimates that up to 529 trees that do not contribute to the historic landscape will be removed as part of this tree management and cultural landscape rehabilitation project," which the government claimed were pursuant to a "separate agency decision" apart from "proposed rehabilitation or redesign of East Potomac Golf Course or the soil stockpiling decision that are at issue in this litigation."

During live testimony, Griess said that the Saturday tree removal directive came out of Washington from National Park Service Deputy Director for Operations Frank Lands.

"All right, I'm ordering Mr. Lands to appear to this hearing. Ms. Piropato, get a hold of him, get him on here ASAP," Reyes said, also ordering Griess to preserve his and his staff's records.

Once Lands was sworn in to testify from a car, he said he learned of the weekend tree removal plan on Oct. 5, and that Department of Interior deputy chief of staff for policy Greg Wischer was the individual who told him to move forward.

Reyes said the court would have to hear from Wischer next, potentially on Tuesday.

Still on the stand, and under questioning by plaintiff's attorney Abbe Lowell, Lands said he was told on Oct. 5 to implement compliance with the CLR "as soon as practical." That prompted Reyes to wonder where the sudden urgency to implement the 2019 CLR came from. The witness testified that he was "not aware of any reason."

Near the three-hour mark of the hearing, the judge likewise ordered Lands to preserve his records.

Asked about the cost of this work to the American taxpayer, Lands told the judge, "Unknown."

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has been a leading figure in Trump's cabinet trying to make various building projects a reality, most recently the president's proposed "Great Triumphal Arch" and "staging point for drones and snipers" at Memorial Circle.