As legal battle rages on, President Trump sets new date to renovate beloved D.C. muni

The legal battle over the future of East Potomac Golf Links is set to continue Monday. But President Donald Trump added a new wrinkle on Sunday, announcing on Truth Social that his planned renovation of the historic muni would begin Nov. 15, closing the course for 15 months. Trump said he and architect Tom Fazio had “developed a plan” that would allow the course to host major championships, Ryder Cups and Presidents Cups.

Trump also posted a rendering of the proposed changes, which bears little resemblance to the existing course. The design shows a dramatically remade Hains Point, the peninsula where East Potomac sits, with a single 18-hole golf course stretching from shoreline to shoreline. It also differs substantially from the more modest proposal that was put forth earlier this year, eliminating Ohio Drive, a century-old grove of cherry trees and a renowned miniature golf course. The changes would reshape a public recreational space used by golfers, walkers,, cyclists, bird watchers and others.

This announcement could figure prominently in Monday’s court proceedings. In July, a judge ordered the administration to present her with any long-term plans to overhaul the course and to avoid surprise remodeling projects, as happened with the East Wing of the White House and the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

But last weekend, the Interior Department did just that, removing over 400 trees at East Potomac and giving the court and a group suing to stop the change less than a day to respond. During a four-hour hearing last Monday, Judge Ana C. Reyes excoriated the Justice Department for failing to keep her apprised of the government’s plans. She accused the government of “double-speak” for claiming in court that the tree removal was part of long-planned maintenance, and said that officials had done “their absolute worst” to notify the court. Reyes spent much of the hearing trying to establish who gave the go-ahead for the surprise tree removal. That is expected to be the focus of Monday, when two Trump administration officials, Gregory Wischer of Interior Department and Jessica Bowron, acting director of the National Park Service, have been ordered to testify. Reyes also ordered the government not to remove any more trees until Oct. 26 to give the group opposing the plan time to respond.

Trump’s post could complicate the government’s position. Shortly after it appeared, Judge Reyes demanded that the government’s attorneys explain by Sunday evening why they had testified on Friday that “at most … the President has given preliminary thought” to any plan to remake the golf course.

Groups opposing Trump’s planned renovation argue that the course provides an affordable, accessible option for players in the Washington, D.C., metro area. They contend that the overhaul would raise greens fees and reduce tee time availability, pricing out some regulars. Critics also question whether the site could handle the traffic and infrastructure demands of professional tournaments.

In his post, Trump called East Potomac “old, broken, dilapidated, and of no further use or effect,” adding that it was “completely overgrown, dysfunctional, and unsafe.” Yet according to the National Trust Links, which operates East Potomac, the course hosted 124,500 rounds in 2025, making it the busiest in the Washington, D.C. area.

Golf has been played on the Hains Point peninsula for 124 years. The facility currently includes an 18-hole Blue course, a 9-hole White course, a nine-hole Par 3 Red Course, a two-tiered driving range, practice areas and a clubhouse. Trump’s planned layout would reduce it to one 18-hole course, with a new clubhouse, a large driving range, and a practice area. The rendering doesn’t include the mini-golf course or the famed grove of Japanese cherry trees, part of a gift of more than 3,000 trees from Japan to Washington in 1912.

Trump had previously said renovations at the century-plus-old Blue Course at East Potomac Golf Links would begin on Sept. 1, but that deadline passed without work starting. Now he has set a new date set for a sweeping overhaul, even as the fight over the property’s future continues.

“East Potomac Park is a national park, golf course and recreational facility that is meant for everyone to enjoy,” Skye Perryman, president of Democracy Forward, which represents the group challenging the plan, said in a statement. “Our litigation is intended to protect this community jewel for the people and communities it serves.”

The next hearing is Monday.