Trump tried to throw a ‘lunatic’ judge off his DC golf course case. Here’s what happened next

A sprawling public park and golf course in Washington, D.C., is the latest target in Donald Trump’s crusade to turn the nation’s capital into a monument to himself — and a new, volatile front in a long-running battle between the president and the courts.With little warning, more than 400 trees were ripped down over a holiday weekend for a park that the president has described as a “World Class Championship Golf Course,” kicking off a series of tense courtroom hearings and court filings from top administration officials trying to throw a federal judge off the case entirely.District Judge Ana C. Reyes upbraided administration officials and government attorneys last week for the last-minute razing of the East Potomac Golf Links — and the president personally attacked her days later as a “crazed lunatic” who “may be insane.”Trump is fighting several legal battles over his attempts to turn public spaces and civil life into an exclusive club with his branded seal of approval. There’s the demolition of the East Wing of the White House for a militarized ballroom, attempts to rename the Kennedy Center after himself, construction of a massive “triumphal” arch that would dominate D.C. airspace, and a botched, multi-million dollar effort to renovate the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, all of which Trump hopes will give him a legacy that outlives his presidency.The future of a municipal golf course may appear to be a low-stakes courtroom drama. But the park may be his biggest project yet. Trump’s planned renovations could not only put the nearly 400-acre public park at stake but the explosive legal battle could also spark a constitutional crisis.The Trump administration is under fire for rapidly tearing down hundreds of trees on a planned golf course in Washington DC, with little notice to a federal judge or preservationists suing to stop the plans (AP)On Saturday night, Trump’s former attorney — who is now the No. 3 official at the Department of Justice — filed a motion to kick Judge Reyes off the case for what he called her “egregious” behavior, “open hostility” and “deep-seated and unequivocal antipathy” towards the administration.Trump’s Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward lambasted the judge for her “histrionics” and “misconduct” — not just in the legal battle over the East Potomac Park but in other high-profile cases involving the Trump administration. He was the only government official whose name appeared on the request. The president and his legal team routinely turn to this Russian nesting doll-like tactic when they’re losing. Don’t like a ruling? Accuse the judge of "misconduct," opening a completely separate legal side quest to kick the can down the road.Reyes is willing to play ball. She swiftly shot down the administration’s attempt to remove her from the case.“That is a serious charge,” she wrote late Sunday night. “The Court answers it. With the record.”She pasted blocks of text from court transcripts to rebut the administration’s claims against her, making it clear that she was going out of her way to praise the government’s attorneys and routinely rejected requests from preservationists who are suing to stop construction — until tractors started ripping up trees.“Yes, the Court was ‘furious’ and ‘beyond disappointed,’ and said as much” when she reprimanded administration officials for bulldozing hundreds of healthy trees over a holiday weekend, Reyes wrote.“It is easy to weaponize selective quotations to bring a baseless recusal motion. But it is much harder to meet the demanding legal standard against a full record,” she said.After Judge Ana C Reyes reprimanded administration officials in court, Trump called her a ‘lunatic’ and a top Department of Justice official tried to kick her off the case (Getty)But Trump also tried to intervene.Trump announced over the weekend that the transformation of the park into his “World Class Championship Golf Course” will begin in November, forcing the closure of the park for 15 months — despite testimony from government officials that there are no imminent plans.On Sunday night, Reyes wanted to know whether Trump’s post is a “final agency action” or a “preliminary thought.”Woodward responded, again, insisting that nothing has changed.But then Trump intervened, again.Stanley Woodward, Trump’s former personal attorney who is now the No 3 at the Justice Department, accused the judge of ‘misconduct’ — which she swiftly shot down (Getty)“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,” he wrote Monday morning.“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?” Trump wrote.He said his administration doesn’t need any approval and can begin working on the project “IMMEDIATELY.“The finished product will be World Class, and bring income and great prestige back to D.C.,” he wrote.Reyes hauled government officials back to her courtroom Monday to keep pressing them for information about why, exactly, was responsible for greenlighting the tree removal and other plans for the park.“There is no universe in which all of this just coincidentally happened at the same time,” she said Monday. “There just isn’t.”Reyes also wanted to know if any government lawyers wanted to come forward to say they agreed with Woodward’s attempts to knock her office.Woodward told her that was “inappropriate” and instructed Justice Department attorneys to ignore it.“I’m the one who’s going to say how we move today,” Reyes fired back. “Not you.”