East Potomac Golf Links is the focus of a new redevelopment push announced Sunday by President Donald Trump, who said on Truth Social that the administration has a plan to overhaul the Washington, D.C., course at the center of a continuing legal dispute.
According to Trump, the Interior Department collaborated with golf course architect Tom Fazio on a proposal to create a “World Class Championship Golf Course” on the site of the current East Potomac Golf Links.
Trump said the upgraded course would remain open to the public while meeting top competitive standards and capable of hosting premier tournaments including the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship, the Ryder Cup, and the Presidents Cup.
He added that renovations would start on Nov. 15 and are expected to take about 15 months.
East Potomac Golf Links redevelopment plan and legal fight
The initiative is already being challenged in court by a preservation group and two D.C. residents.
Following Trump’s post, U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes directed the administration to state whether it still plans to argue there has been no “final agency action” and that any redevelopment of East Potomac Golf Links remains “preliminary.”
Justice Department lawyers have maintained for months that converting East Potomac into a championship-style venue was hypothetical and not based on any formal plan.
Officials with the National Park Service also told Reyes last week that they were not aware of any approved plan to renovate East Potomac beyond what they had seen in prior social media posts by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Trump.
Last week, Reyes barred the administration from cutting more trees at the course through Oct. 26. The government had already removed hundreds of trees, prompting the judge to say in court that she was “furious.”
“I was hearing from everyone on plaintiffs’ side this was going to happen. I said repeatedly, ‘No, I trust the government.’ I trusted you all not to do precisely what you have done,” Reyes said at the time.
She added that the incident “cost the government all of its credibility.”
Reyes ordered the administration to give her and the plaintiffs three business days’ written notice before making any “irreparable modification” to the course. She had previously denied a temporary restraining order after government lawyers said they would provide sufficient notice before major work.
On Friday, the administration moved to have Reyes recuse herself, arguing that her “histrionics in prior hearings have clearly demonstrated she is no longer impartial.”
The judge has scheduled a hearing Monday and has called the acting director of the National Park Service and the Interior Department’s chief of staff to testify under oath. Reyes on Sunday also required Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward to attend.
In his Sunday post, Trump described the existing course as “old, broken, dilapidated, and of no further use or effect.”
The East Potomac Golf Links proposal is the latest in a series of efforts by the president to reshape landmarks in the nation’s capital. He has continued construction of a White House ballroom and advanced plans for a “triumphal arch.” His appointees on the Kennedy Center board voted to close the venue for renovations, and the administration pursued work on the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, where the lining later peeled.
The administration’s legal strategy comes as Justice Department political activities rules for top appointees have also drawn scrutiny in Washington.