A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
A federal judge summoned Trump administration officials to court on Monday. They were called to testify about the sudden removal of hundreds of trees from a municipal golf course in D.C. that President Trump wants to redevelop. Here's NPR's Rachel Treisman.
RACHEL TREISMAN, BYLINE: On Sunday, after months of speculation and cryptic announcements, President Trump posted a rendering of his proposed redesign of the East Potomac Golf Links.
ALEX ROSEN: There's no words to describe the level of depravity that someone who has 16 golf courses needs to steal public land to make a 17th.
TREISMAN: Alex Rosen is a D.C.-based consultant who founded the nonprofit Save East Po. He says this plan would drastically change the course and recreational area around it.
ROSEN: Currently, there's 36 holes of golf. Let's take that down to 18 holes of golf. Currently, there's a park. In the future, there's no park. Currently, there's a cycling route. There's a running route. There's a driving route. There's none of that in the future plan.
TREISMAN: Trump said on Sunday that the park would close for renovations next month. On Monday morning, however, he posted that work would begin immediately. That was news to some members of the Trump administration. Just hours after Trump's post, government lawyers told Judge Ana Reyes that there is no final plan yet.
ROSEN: The thing that stood out to me most from this hearing was the judge asking the government attorneys, am I supposed to believe you or the president of the United States?
TREISMAN: The hearing was supposed to be about the government's abrupt removal of hundreds of trees from the golf course last weekend, but it turned into a seven-hour back-and-forth as the judge tried to unravel the federal government's conflicting statements about its plans for the historic course. Skye Perryman is the CEO of Democracy Forward, one of the groups representing the golfers who sued the government in February.
SKYE PERRYMAN: We're also incredibly concerned about the administration's conduct in this case, you know, given the obligations that the administration has to be candid with the court.
TREISMAN: Judge Reyes has already blocked the government from cutting any more trees until at least next week, but plaintiffs want her to go even further to stop potential future renovations. Monday's hearing ended without a ruling. But hours after Trump called her a, quote, "crazed lunatic" online, Reyes said she was getting death threats over the case.
Rachel Treisman, NPR News.
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