Trump’s golf course takeover runs into major new roadblock

President Donald Trump's plan to take over a Washington D.C., golf course has run into a major new roadblock, with NOTUS reporting that locals have staged new protests to bring attention to the situation.

Over the weekend, according to the report, "Cyclists, anglers, joggers and bird-watchers" took to the East Potomac Park to stage a protest against Trump's planned makeover of the park's Golf Links on Hains Point, part of his broader effort to reshape D.C. to his own liking. The proposed work is reportedly set to begin on September 1, with local park attendees and preservationists claiming that several trees have already been removed.

"Wearing shirts with slogans like 'Save Hains Point' and holding signs with phrases such as 'Fore the People, Not the President,' dozens of people represented the activities — and communities — that could be at stake if Trump’s plans move forward," NOTUS explained. "The rally was organized by the Washington Area Bicycle Association and Save East Po, a grassroots coalition aimed at protecting the area. It took place at the park’s southernmost tip, not far from where a tree-removal crew was working Saturday. At least six trees around the golf course were removed by National Park Service employees. Several dozen others had been taken out in the days before the rally, alarming activists and preservationists."

The report continued: "The Interior Department, which oversees the National Park Service, said in a statement that arborists are doing routine maintenance, 'with selective removal of hazard trees, non-native invasive trees, and declining and dying trees that cannot be brought back to good health through any degree of intervention.' But WABA Executive Director Elizabeth Kiker said she’s concerned that the three-day removal operation was 'the beginning of them tearing this entire space out and building it to be something that is not for the public.' Kiker said she and some other attendees watched a few of the trees being cut down."

"Maybe they were ailing, but boy they sure didn’t look like it," Kiker told NOTUS.

A lawsuit attempting to halt Trump's plan for the public golf course is currently "stalled" in court. The specific construction plans and a tree removal list have not been disclosed by the administration. Kiker said that the National Park Service disclosed to them that construction is not moving forward on Tuesday, but added that, "We are still watching very carefully."

“We want to see the trees that they’re planning on cutting down — they won’t release that,” Save East Po founder Alex Rosen told NOTUS. “There’s renderings of what the future golf course is going to look like, but they won’t release that. There’s clearly plans that exist right now, but this administration is acting without any semblance of transparency, and that’s the problem.”