President Trump said on Sunday that his administration finalized plans to transform East Potomac Golf Links in Washington into a “world class championship golf course,” saying the municipal course would close within four weeks and that its replacement would be playable in about 15 months.
The announcement set up another frantic legal clash over the site. A federal judge ordered the administration in July to present her with any long-term plans for the course and not to carry out a surprise overhaul as the president had with the East Wing of the White House and the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
The Interior Department appeared to have done just that earlier this month, taking down hundreds of trees over a holiday weekend and giving the court and a group suing to stop any changes to the course less than a day to react.
In a post on social media on Sunday morning, Mr. Trump appeared to affirm what a historical-preservation group and two Washington residents had warned of in a federal lawsuit: that the administration might move to seize the existing course before they had a real chance to oppose the plan.
Mr. Trump wrote that he had already notified professional golf organizations that “they will soon have one of the best and most spectacular golf courses anywhere in the world to put on their list of great places to play, and hold major events.” He added that he had secured a design by Tom Fazio, a well-known designer who has planned other courses owned by the Trump Organization.
The president shared a rendering of the planned course that resembled a blurred-out image sitting on his desk in a photo shared on Friday by Katie Zacharia, his press secretary who was ousted from the role after less than a week.
The group opposing the plan has argued that the existing course provided an affordable and accessible option to players in the Washington area who would be harmed by its conversion into a more exclusive, professional-level destination. Critics and local golfers have also expressed doubt that the isolated Hains Point peninsula, where the course is situated, could handle the traffic that professional tournaments would demand.
The map Mr. Trump shared on Sunday showed the new course covering the bulk of East Potomac Park, with the proposed 12th hole situated over what is now a public picnic area and playground at Hains Point. In addition to the current municipal course, the perimeter of the island is also a popular cycling circuit.
“East Potomac Park is a national park, golf course and recreational facility that is meant for everyone to enjoy,” said Skye Perryman, the president of Democracy Forward, which is representing the group challenging the plan. “Our litigation is intended to protect this community jewel for the people and communities it serves.”
Mr. Trump has signaled for months that he intended to realize the plan, and he was photographed touring the site and studying blueprints with Doug Burgum, the interior secretary, and Mr. Fazio in June.
But because there previously had not been imminent plans to move forward with the redevelopment, Judge Ana C. Reyes was hesitant for months to preemptively block the Trump administration from making any changes to the existing course. Instead, she had prevailed upon the Justice Department to notify her before making any major changes.
During a hearing in July, a Justice Department lawyer said that no decision was reached on the fate of the course.
After it was revealed that the Interior Department cleared hundreds of trees last weekend, Judge Reyes excoriated the Justice Department for failing to keep her apprised during a fiery hearing on Monday. She accused the government of “double speak” for representing in court that the work was planned maintenance, despite Mr. Trump’s public vision to transform the course.
Seething at a government lawyer, Judge Reyes turned an extended portion of the four-hour hearing into an effort to identify who had given the go-ahead to begin the work. She ordered the government to track down several senior officials in the Interior Department to testify on the spot but was able to reach only one.
Judge Reyes lamented that she had tried to avoid “playing parks and rec” or policing landscaping decisions at the course. But confronted with signs that the administration was rushing forward, she ordered the government not to remove any more trees until Oct. 26 to give the group opposing the plan time to respond.
The question of who authorized the work is expected to be the focus of a hearing on Monday, at which Judge Reyes had ordered Gregory Wischer, a Trump appointee at the Interior Department, and Jessica Bowron, the acting director of the National Park Service, to testify.
But the Justice Department escalated the standoff on Friday and filed a motion to disqualify Judge Reyes, citing her frustration at the hearing in order to question her impartiality and ask that she recuse herself from the case. She ordered both sides to file a response to the request by Sunday afternoon.
In the post on Sunday, Mr. Trump repeated an argument the government had made in court that clearing trees from the course was meant to return it to its original 1920s design, which featured open sight lines. But while the government indicated on Monday that the tree removal was proposed in a seven-year-old historic-restoration concept, Mr. Trump appeared to suggest it was linked to the “Fazio Design” that he said would be built starting on Nov. 15.
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