- A rumor circulating in late August 2026 claimed crews cut down dozens of cherry trees to pave the way for U.S. President Donald Trump's plans to renovate a Washington, D.C., golf course.
- As of this writing on Sept. 1, we've found no evidence to support the claim dozens of cherry trees had been removed as part of the project.
- The golf course makeover, which Trump said would begin on Sept. 1, aims to create a championship-style site by overhauling the East Potomac Golf Links property inside East Potomac Park.
- The rumor about cherry trees appeared to have originated with readers misunderstanding or misrepresenting an Aug. 28 Washington Post article reporting that an informal count found roughly 60 trees had been removed. Out of those 60, only one was a cherry tree.
- An Interior Department spokesperson told Snopes arborists recommend the removal of dying, declining or hazardous trees as a part of routine maintenance.
For example, during the Biden administration, the National Park Service reportedly removed 300 trees (including 140 cherry trees) from the Tidal Basin area north of East Potomac Park as part of a three-year project capped off by the replanting of 277 cherry trees.
In late August 2026, Snopes received emails and searches asking if it was true crews cut down dozens of cherry trees to pave the way for U.S. President Donald Trump's Washington, D.C., golf course renovations, specifically the East Potomac Golf Links property inside East Potomac Park, the site of the nation's first cherry blossom planting.
Earlier in the year, the Trump administration revealed visual plans to overhaul the property into a championship-style golf course. Then, Trump announced on Truth Social that work on the golf course would begin Sept. 1. Earlier in the year, the DC Preservation League filed a lawsuit challenging the project, including citing crews dumping White House East Wing debris at the site.
Readers specifically asked if a rumor that between 60 and 158 cherry trees were chopped down was true, and whether the administration violated a court order by doing so. They also wanted to know if the alleged tree removal impacted the cherry tree collections gifted to the U.S. by Japan in 1910 and 1912.
For example, one reader emailed, "Despite court orders, Trump is moving forward with plans to remove 158 iconic cherry trees near the Tidal Basin and 60 have already been cut down."
Another email read, "Has Trump ordered the removal of dozens of cherry trees in DC that were a gift from Japan?"
Social media users shared variants of this claim on Bluesky (archived), Facebook (archived), Threads (archived) and X (archived), among other platforms.
(X user @adamemedia1)
In sum, as of this writing on Sept. 1, we have found no evidence to support the claim, nor any examples of news media outlets reporting that dozens of cherry trees were removed from East Potomac Park, including any that arrived from Japan in 1910 or 1912.
Regarding court orders, U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes reportedly said on May 4 the court must be told if the renovation plans called for the removal of more than 10 trees.
We haven't given this multipart claim a true or false rating given the lack of conclusive evidence either way and the fact that it remains an ongoing situation.
One popular Facebook post (archived) indicated the rumor stems at least in part from people misrepresenting an Aug. 28 Washington Post report. That story, headlined "Trees are coming down by the dozen as Trump's D.C. golf makeover nears," tells of "newly cut stumps and bare patches of dirt [marking] the places where dozens of trees recently stood" and says an informal count found that 60 trees "appeared to have been removed in recent weeks." The Post mentions noticing at least one removed cherry tree near the 14th green of the blue course, as well as two large sycamores removed around another area.
An Interior Department spokesperson provided the same statement the Post published, saying arborists recommended recent removals of dying, declining or hazardous trees as a part of routine maintenance:
Arborists are doing routine maintenance at East Potomac Park 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. Trees throughout the park are regularly monitored for potential safety impacts to visitors, and when a tree is determined to be dying, declining or hazardous our arborists may make the decision to remove it.
In response to the department's statement, we requested numbers of removed trees from previous years for comparison.
For example, in March 2024, when former President Joe Biden was in office, the NPS reportedly announced a $133 million project to rebuild and reinforce the sea wall of the Tidal Basin, an area located north of East Potomac Park. The work, scheduled at the time to last three years, featured the removal of 140 cherry trees out of 300 total trees, as well as the replanting of 277 cherry trees at the project's conclusion. Those removals included a beloved tree named "Stumpy."
According to an NPS article last updated in 2019, fewer than 100 of the cherry trees Japan gave the U.S. in the early 1900s remain to this day and are planted along the Tidal Basin and around the park and the city. Those few remaining trees make up only a small portion of "the nearly 4,000 cherry trees growing in West and East Potomac Parks, on the Washington Monument grounds, and in several other park locations."
Officials reportedly burned most of Japan's 1910 cherry-tree shipment after arrival upon finding they were infested with insects and disease, with the 1912 shipment proving more successful. In 2009, the Post, citing century-old reporting, told of some of the 1910 trees possibly being saved and planted in an "experimental plot" — a group possibly remaining to this day.
We reached out to the White House, which referred us to the Interior Department, as well as the DC Preservation League and the National Park Service for further comment, and will update this article if we receive further information. We also contacted Post writer Rick Maese, who posted on X, "It doesn't seem like any cherry trees from the historic grove have been impacted thus far." Another journalist responded to the post, bringing up the 2009 Post article about officials possibly planting a small number of Japan's 1910 shipment.
An online booking search for East Potomac Golf Links tee times showed availability continuing into the first days of September, with no sign of any potential closures.
Tree care company denies axing cherry trees
During the Post's Aug. 27 visit to the property — a site Snopes has not visited firsthand — the writer reported seeing a company named RTEC Treecare cutting trees, including a large tree that showed "clear signs of decay." The writer also mentioned noticing white dots and yellow ribbons on some trees, marked for purposes not known to the Post.
The RTEC Treecare website displays a message addressing the cherry tree rumor, reading in part as follows (bolded emphasis theirs):
RTEC Treecare is currently performing hazard tree pruning and removal services for the National Park Service at East Potomac Park Golf Course. The trees assigned for treatment have been evaluated and selected by National Park Service arborists based on established hazard assessment criteria.
We want to be clear: RTEC Treecare has not removed any cherry trees at East Potomac Park Golf Course. Our work has been limited to trees identified by the National Park Service as hazardous, non-native, or invasive.
We contacted RTEC Treecare to ask if they were aware of who chopped down the cherry tree the Post reported about and will update this story if we receive more details.
DC eyewitness reports from East Potomac Park
On Aug. 31, Threads user @drybrarian, whose bio identifies him as "Kennedy Center Bike Guy," posted (archived) photos purporting to show the current state of East Potomac Park, including one displaying a newspaper with the day's date as evidence of when he captured the images. The thread of posts, featuring more than the post embedded below, reported that the user witnessed some trees being cut down, adding, "there has NOT been a wholesale Cherry Blossom Massacre," as well as that "the VAST majority of the trees are still there."
We messaged the user to ask for further information and will update this story accordingly.
For further reading, we previously reported in July about similar rumors of the Trump administration planning to chop down cherry trees.
Facts Only
Donald Trump announced renovations for the East Potomac Golf Links in Washington, D.C., starting September 1, 2026.
Rumors circulated in August 2026 claiming dozens of cherry trees were removed for the project.
A Washington Post report dated August 28 noted an informal count of 60 removed trees, one of which was a cherry tree.
The Interior Department stated tree removals are part of routine maintenance for hazardous, dying, or non-native species.
RTEC Treecare, the contractor on site, stated they have not removed any cherry trees.
In March 2024, the National Park Service removed 140 cherry trees as part of a Tidal Basin seawall project and replanted 277.
Fewer than 100 of the original cherry trees gifted by Japan in 1910 and 1912 remain.
U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes ruled on May 4 that the court must be notified if renovation plans require removing more than 10 trees.
The DC Preservation League filed a lawsuit challenging the golf course project.
An eyewitness on Threads reported on August 31 that the majority of trees remain in the park.
Executive Summary
The renovation of the East Potomac Golf Links into a championship-style course has sparked conflicting reports regarding environmental impact. Allegations that dozens of iconic cherry trees were illegally felled to facilitate the project gained traction on social media in late August 2026. These claims appear to stem from a misinterpretation of a news report indicating that 60 total trees were removed, though only one was identified as a cherry tree.
Government officials and the contracted tree care company maintain that removals are routine maintenance targeting hazardous or diseased vegetation. While a court order requires notification for the removal of more than 10 trees, there is currently no conclusive evidence that a "massacre" of cherry blossoms occurred or that historic gifts from Japan were impacted. The situation remains fluid, characterized by a tension between planned infrastructure upgrades and preservationist concerns, with some citing previous large-scale tree removals under different administrations as context for current anxieties.
Full Take
The strongest version of this narrative is that a high-profile renovation project, managed by a polarizing figure and challenged in court, creates a climate of suspicion where routine maintenance is perceived as systemic destruction. The credit here goes to the verification process: by cross-referencing contractor statements, eyewitness photography, and historical data on the 1910/1912 Japanese gifts, the noise of social media is separated from the signal of physical reality.
This situation follows a classic pattern of "narrative leapfrogging," where a verifiable fact (60 trees removed) is instantly converted into a hyperbolic claim (dozens of cherry trees massacred) to fit a pre-existing political frame. The load-bearing element is not the evidence, but the emotional weight of the cherry blossoms as a symbol of national heritage and international diplomacy.
The root cause is a collapse of trust in institutional reporting. When a project is already under litigation, every "yellow ribbon" on a tree becomes a potential crime scene rather than a marker for an arborist. This echoes a broader societal trend where the perceived intent of the actor outweighs the empirical outcome of the action.
Patterns detected: none
The counterstrike playbook for an influence campaign would involve using "leaked" unverified photos of any stump in the park, pairing them with emotive language about "destroying Japanese gifts," and ignoring the distinction between general park trees and historic cherry blossoms to trigger a moral panic. The current discourse reflects the ripple effects of such a playbook, but the factual synthesis provided here actively dismantles that structure.
Bridge Questions:
1. How does the historical precedent of removing 140 trees for the seawall project shape current public perception of "routine maintenance"?
2. If a court order exists for notification of 10+ trees, who is responsible for the independent auditing of that count?
3. At what point does a symbol (the cherry blossom) become so potent that empirical evidence is no longer sufficient to quiet the narrative?
Sentinel — Human
This text reads like a journalistic investigation tracing a specific, unverified rumor by weighing conflicting reports and citing multiple sources, pointing toward human authorship.