WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump’s social media posts on the renovation of a historic golf course in the nation's capital are putting Justice Department lawyers in the uncomfortable position of explaining whether the president of the United States should be believed or not.
U.S. Judge Ana Reyes said Tuesday that the department should clarify "whether any plan exists to close East Potomac Golf Course on or around November 15, 2026.” She ordered Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward Jr. to appear in court Friday or Monday for a status hearing.
Tuesday's order came in response to Trump's social media post late Monday criticizing Reyes' temporary injunction stopping work at East Potomac Park.
That injunction, issued Monday, was in large part due to previous Trump announcements — via social media — that plans had been completed for the golf course and construction would begin next month. Trump said the facility would be closed for 15 months. The following day he set the timetable to “immediately.”
Reyes said: “Rarely, if ever, has the United States Department of Justice urged a federal court not to believe the sitting president. Not to believe him that a cabinet secretary has ‘developed’ a federal land project. Not to believe him that the secretary’s agency will destroy a historic golf course already on the land. Not to believe him that ‘restoration work' will begin ’IMMEDIATELY!' Not to believe him that the course ‘will be closed’ for over a year. Not to believe what the president has repeatedly told the American public."
She added: “And yet, here we are.”
The current preliminary injunction temporarily bars the government from removing or damaging any additional trees on the East Potomac Golf Course. The administration must give 10 days’ notice in writing before making any “irreparable modification” to any “forms or features” of the course while the lawsuit is active.
The plaintiffs challenging the project, DC Preservation League and two golfers, claim the work is inflicting irreversible damage. Critics say Trump's plan will make playing there unaffordable for the general public and destroy the site's other uses. At one hearing, the judge excoriated the government after workers cut down at least 400 trees over a holiday weekend with little notice to the plaintiffs. A follow-up hearing Oct. 19 led to stunning exchanges, with Woodward at one point protecting a Justice Department lawyer during questioning when Reyes asked whom she should believe.
“It’s difficult to put my colleague, a non-Senate-confirmed DOJ employee, in a position of contradicting the president,” Woodward said.
The course renovation project is part of Trump’s aggressive campaign to leave his personal imprint on Washington’s historic landscape.
Those plans include construction of a huge ballroom at the White House, a massive arch, and the creation of a National Garden of American Heroes in West Potomac Park. The DC Preservation League is part of a coalition of organizations, including the Cultural Landscape Foundation and one D.C. resident, who have filed lawsuits challenging those plans.
There are several cases where judges have taken actions and issued injunctions or restraining orders because of the Trump administration's push to begin work despite the pending lawsuits.
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The government filed a notice that it planned to appeal the temporary injunction with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
The Washington Monument is seen past stumps of removed trees at East Potomac Park Golf Course, Monday, Oct. 26, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
The Washington Monument is seen as a golfer takes a swing at East Potomac Park Golf Course, Monday, Oct. 26, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
WASHINGTON (AP) — A senior State Department official said Tuesday that Flávio Bolsonaro and his family will be granted U.S. visas after his weekend loss to Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in a hotly contested race that bucked a trend of conservative electoral results in Latin America.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to visa privacy laws, said “the State Department will issue visas to Flávio Bolsonaro and his family and allow them entry into the United States.”
Bolsonaro, who had President Donald Trump’s tacit support, had been under investigation for corruption, money laundering and tax evasion in Brazil and had been ordered to surrender his passport.
The State Department official did not say if Bolsonaro had already left Brazil or if he and his family were en route to the U.S. Lula told a few dozen supporters outside the presidential residence in Brasilia that he did not have precise information of Bolsonaro’s whereabouts, but said he had left Brazil.
Bolsonaro's campaign manager, Rogério Marinho, said he hadn't spoken to the defeated candidate since early Tuesday morning.
“We had no news from Flávio or his lawyers about what happened,” Marinho said. “I received a text message from him, he said he wanted to take a break and then he would talk to us. That’s the only message I had from him.”
Brazilian media reported many Bolsonaro allies were unable to reach him. The Ministry of Security of Argentina denied the Brazilian senator had entered that country.
Bolsonaro’s brother, Eduardo Bolsonaro, who lives in Texas, had publicly encouraged him to leave Brazil if he lost the election.
Flávio Bolsonaro has touted his relationship with Trump and visited the White House in May. The family connections go deeper: Brother Eduardo Bolsonaro was convicted in absentia in June of illegally lobbying the Trump administration and sentenced to four years in prison. A warrant was recently issued for his arrest.
Trump did not offer a full-throated endorsement of Bolsonaro in the runoff against Lula, as he has with some other right-of-center candidates in Latin America. But he suggested Monday, without providing evidence, that Brazil’s election was “rigged.”
Trump said early Wednesday that he would approve of Flávio Bolsonaro coming to the U.S., calling him and his family “fine people.”
“The election was really strange, and I thought it was terrible,” Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, after returning from campaigning in Texas.
He stressed again, however, that he did not endorse a candidate in Brazil's election. Asked about Bolsonaro’s whereabouts, Trump said he had heard he was in Argentina.
Bolsonaro's decision to leave Brazil came as a deadline for him to surrender his regular and diplomatic passports expired at noon Tuesday. It remained unclear whether he had complied.
Bolsonaro was served with the order to surrender his passports Monday. He said he received it outside the home where his father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, is serving a 27-year sentence under house arrest for attempting a coup following his 2022 election loss to Lula. After that defeat, Jair Bolsonaro fled Brazil for Florida. He returned three months later.
The sealed Supreme Court order, viewed by The Associated Press, was issued the day of the election Sunday. Bolsonaro has refused to concede defeat and has made unsubstantiated allegations of election fraud.
Bolsonaro initially asked for the election results to be annulled after an evening of chaos at some polling places that prompted authorities to extend voting by two hours.
On Monday, he urged the electoral court to investigate alleged election fraud and nullify Lula's and Vice President Geraldo Alckmin's candidacies, which the electoral court has never done before.
“I never thought about leaving the country,” Bolsonaro said in a video published on his social media channels. “I will hand over my passports and I will defend myself from this aberration. It is a clear attempt to intimidate me. But I will not be silenced."
To overturn the result, Bolsonaro would have to present evidence of fraud affecting Lula's 4.4 million-vote margin and convince the eight-member electoral court before the results are certified on Dec. 18.
Lula received more than 64 million votes, compared with fewer than 60 million for Bolsonaro, a margin of nearly 4%.
Lula turned 81 on Tuesday and celebrated with a birthday cake shared with a few dozen supporters outside the presidential residence in Brasilia.
He was emotional in a speech, saying he had yet to recover his voice after a hard-fought campaign. He said Bolsonaro had left Brazil, though he did not know his precise whereabouts. “I find myself wondering what kind of guilt weighs on the conscience of a citizen who has just lost an election and flees his own country. What kind of guilt?”
Lula suggested Bolsonaro's departure fit a family pattern. Brazil is “the second country” of the Bolsonaro family, he said.
“The first is licking American boots,” Lula said. “Those who are not liable do not fear. A fellow that secretly leaves his country, that's because he is liable for something."
Bolsonaro said in a video posted Monday on his social media channels that he was attempting to organize opposition among his congressional colleagues to the election results. His eight-year term as a senator expires Jan. 31, 2027, which will also cause him to lose special jurisdiction at the country's Supreme Court.
Bolsonaro is under investigation by Brazil's Supreme Court for alleged corruption, money laundering and tax evasion in two cases. In one, he's accused of using a sports betting company to launder fraudulent deductions from government pensions paid to senior citizens. In the other, he is accused of accepting millions of dollars from a disgraced banker.
He has denied any wrongdoing in both cases, and has claimed Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who is heading one of the investigations, is a Lula ally. Prosecutors suspect the funds from the banker were used to pay his brother, Eduardo Bolsonaro’s, expenses and to promote Flávio Bolsonaro’s political agenda with the Trump administration, documents show.
Mauricio Marcon, a lawmaker of Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party, also questioned de Moraes’ objectivity on Tuesday. “Seven minutes after the election, Alexandre de Moraes ordered his passports to be seized,” Marcon said. Bolsonaro “will represent us in a free country. He will continue to be our leader.”
Savarese reported from Sao Paulo. Associated Press writer Seung Min Kim contributed to this report.
Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
Opposition presidential candidate Sen. Flavio Bolsonaro speaks after the presidential runoff in Brasilia, Brazil, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva gives two thumbs up to supporters during a celebration of his 81st birthday outside the official presidential residence at Alvorada Palace in Brasília, Brazil, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva greets supporters during a celebration of his 81st birthday outside the official presidential residence at Alvorada Palace in Brasília, Brazil, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva blows out birthday candles during a celebration of his 81st birthday outside the official presidential residence at Alvorada Palace in Brasília, Brazil, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
Opposition presidential candidate Sen. Flavio Bolsonaro speaks after the presidential runoff in Brasilia, Brazil, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
Opposition presidential candidate Sen. Flavio Bolsonaro arrives at his election night event after the presidential runoff in Brasilia, Brazil, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026.(AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
