President Donald Trump said on Sunday an initial plan for the overhaul of the East Potomac Golf Links course in Washington, D.C. has been finalized.
“When completed, it will be open to the Public while, at the same time, designed to the Highest Levels of Golf and able to hold World Class Tournaments such as the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship, the Ryder Cup, and the Presidents Cup,” Trump said.
Trump has embarked on multiple beautification projects within Washington since signing a March 2025 executive order titled “Making the District of Columbia Safe and Beautiful.” Such projects, including building a new ballroom at the White House and refurbishing the Lincoln Memorial’s Reflecting Pool, have often faced significant legal challenges and have generated headlines regarding Trump’s approach to domestic policy throughout his second term. Trump said the course, which was designed largely by golf course architect Tony Fazio, would open in 15 months and “restoration work” would begin on Nov. 15.
“It is in very poor condition, with falling, dangerous, and disease infested trees and, importantly, a collapsing and hazardous seawall,” he said of the current course’s condition.
“When the East Potomac Course was originally built, it was famous for no trees, with views of Washington, D.C., for all to see, but now, it is completely overgrown, dysfunctional, and unsafe.” Trump’s plan faces legal hurdles, as Biden-appointed U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes extended a ban on further tree removal until Oct. 26 early last week. The Trump administration allegedly cut down over 400 trees on the site last Saturday, prompting further legal complications stemming from a lawsuit filed by local preservationists.
The Interior Department maintains Reyes is a “far-Left activist” and the National Park Service was “finally implementing a 7-year-old plan to address tree overgrowth” at the course, citing a 2019 Cultural Landscape Report which found the additional growth of trees shifted the course’s feel away from its original intent. Reyes said last week officials removed the trees “because President Trump demands haste on his redesign.”
The legal tit-for-tat continued on Sunday when Reyes reacted to Trump’s announcement by saying his administration must soon notify the court “whether it continues to take the position” that Trump has “at most… given preliminary thought to” specific plans regarding the course, as it had outlined in a filing on Friday. The Justice Department asked Reyes to recuse herself that same day.
BIDEN-APPOINTED JUDGE CITES TRUMP PRESSURE IN RUSH TO REMOVE TREES AT DC GOLF COURSE
“Judge Reyes’s histrionics in prior hearings have clearly demonstrated she is no longer impartial,” Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward Jr. wrote on Friday. Reyes said at last Monday’s hearing she was “furious” at the administration and had been giving them the benefit of the doubt by not “playing parks and rec” with the project.
Two senior Interior Department officials will testify at another hearing on Monday.
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[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
