'There are going to be serious consequences': Judge warns DOJ not to test her patience at end of odd emergency hearing on 'very dangerous' dead trees

The DOJ told a federal judge that if there were signs at the East Potomac Golf Course over the weekend indicating a closure those weren't proof that the Trump administration plans to forge ahead with renovations regardless of what the courts have to say.

U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes, a Joe Biden appointee, issued an order late Sunday for the DOJ to file a response in the early morning ahead of a hearing, following an emergency motion from the D.C. Preservation League to block President Donald Trump's "imminent takeover" of the golf course.

Highlighting just how quickly the hearing came together, the judge remarked, "I am not currently in a robe," and injected some levity.

"May the 4th be with everybody," Reyes said, bringing a Star Wars reference to the table.

The plaintiff's legal team — rejecting the Department of Interior defendants' claims of routine maintenance as cover for "massive" and unlawful renovations — insisted that if the judge gave the Trump administration an inch, the government would take a mile, just as it has with the White House ballroom project.

To begin to get to the bottom of the situation, Reyes questioned National Mall and Memorial Parks Superintendent Kevin Griess under oath about what is happening and what is planned.

After confirming that the witness' name was pronounced like the movie "Grease," the judge asked, "What is happening today, this week?"

Griess answered that he spoke with the maintenance chief in person on Friday but that "there's nothing in writing" about what he directed the employee to do. The superintendent stated that he gave a verbal direction to the chief to do a conditions assessment, for safety, fire, and appearance issues, specifically due to a "very dangerous" uncertain number of "dead trees."

"Your Honor, I don't know how many, yet, that's part of the assessment. But yes, there's not a grove of dead trees, but the dead trees are very dangerous because they break off in the wind," Griess said, framing it as business as usual.

Attorney Will Bardwell chimed in for the plaintiffs, urging Reyes not to overlook Trump's tree-removal activities at the Kennedy Center.

"I just wanted to note for the record and adding to the reason for a lot of skepticism here, this is exactly what the government used to justify cutting down all the willow trees at the Kennedy Center," he said. "The argument there was that they were all dying and that they were just part of regular maintenance. Now, cutting down trees is the very first step in a golf course construction project, and so to your point, we are deeply concerned that they are going to use this as an excuse to begin hardcore construction under the guise of taking down a dying tree. We don't want what happened at the Kennedy Center."

Reyes heard those concerns but briskly cast them aside, commenting that she knew nothing about what happened at the Kennedy Center. What she wanted to know was whether anything was actually happening today.

"There's no direction to execute yet," Griess said, telling Reyes that maintenance has only been directed to take inventory of trees that need to be removed.

Reyes, making clear that she "do[es] not care about golf at all," then questioned the superintendent and the DOJ about reports of signage that said the golf course would be closed.

The government said it wasn't aware of "any signs" and that there hasn't been a "formal decision" to close the golf course.

While the judge did not issue an injunction, she sternly warned the DOJ's Michael Robertson to put the agency defendants on notice that if the government does try to take that mile, "there are going to be serious consequences."

"Here's what I don't want, Mr. Robertson, I'm going to say this one more time," Reyes said. "I do not want a situation where something has happened and then I'm being told by the government or by a foundation or by a bulldozing company that it's too late to do anything about it."

"Let's just say, given some issues around the district recently, I would have a particular concern that things not happen — that we not ask first and ask forgiveness later — because that's not going to be acceptable," she added. "And I want you to make sure that that's fully communicated to the agency, because if anything like that happens, Mr. Robertson, there are going to be serious consequences."

The post 'There are going to be serious consequences': Judge warns DOJ not to test her patience at end of odd emergency hearing on 'very dangerous' dead trees at golf course first appeared on Law & Crime.