Trump Administration Moves Ahead with East Potomac Golf Course Overhaul Amid Legal Challenges

President Donald J. Trump announced on Truth Social in June 2026 that the 300-acre East Potomac Park municipal golf course will be transformed into a championship-quality venue. The administration intends to begin construction on September 1, 2026, with a target opening in the summer of 2028, before the president leaves office. Renderings released by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum show a single 18-hole course replacing the existing two nine-hole courses, a playground, and other recreational areas. The project is being overseen by the Interior Department, which has not yet submitted plans to the National Capital Planning Commission or the Commission on Fine Arts for the required reviews.

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Officials from both the National Capital Planning Commission and the Commission on Fine Arts confirmed they have received no design documents, despite the typical need for extensive environmental, historic-preservation, and design reviews. Court filings reveal that soil from the demolition of the East Wing, which was deposited on the golf course, was not fully tested before being declared safe, prompting U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes to allow plaintiffs to question administration officials under oath.

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The Interior Department issued a statement that the president is “fulfilling his commitment to make D.C. Safe and Beautiful,” emphasizing that the agency will maintain relationships with local golf communities to keep courses “safe, beautiful, open, affordable, enjoyable, accessible, and world-class.” Secretary Burgum posted on X that the revamped course will provide “championship-quality golf at affordable, highly discounted rates” for residents of the National Capital Region.

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Preservation advocates, including the Cultural Landscape Foundation’s Charles Birnbaum, argue the administration is bypassing “regulatory guardrails, rules and protocols.” Community group Save East Po founder Alex Rosen stresses the effort is “not anti-golf” but opposes turning a beloved municipal space into a single-use, golf-only destination. Local golfers and environmental lawyers, representing Democracy Forward, contend the project violates federal environmental statutes and lacks proper historic-preservation review.

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• “There is really this ability to ignore regulatory guardrails, rules and protocols that have existed in the past. And we just see it again and again, and the golf course, sadly, is yet another example of that,” — Charles Birnbaum, Cultural Landscape Foundation

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• “President Donald J. Trump is fulfilling his commitment to make D.C. Safe and Beautiful as shown by the working fountains, clean parks and safe streets across the district for the first time in decades.” — Interior Department spokesperson

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• “We’re against turning a beloved muni into a championship venue, and against turning the rest of the peninsula into a single-use, golf-only destination.” — Alex Rosen, Save East Po

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• “You don’t get to say something is clean and not a problem and sign off that it’s clean and not a problem and then do the testing later,” — Judge Ana Reyes

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