The legal battle over President Donald Trump’s efforts to renovate a Washington, D.C., municipal golf course has officially reached a new pitch.
On Friday afternoon, a D.C. federal judge announced plans to investigate whether the Trump administration violated ethics rules in its efforts to start construction on the East Potomac Golf Links, a 36-hole muni facility in the capital city that has long welcomed the city’s diverse coalition of public golfers.
Judge Ana Reyes, who was appointed to the U.S. District Court in 2023 and has overseen a series of contentious hearings over the administration’s plans to renovate the historic course, said she hoped the investigation would clear up whether the administration had been forthright in its dealings with the court.
“For months the court has trusted but not verified,” Reyes said. “No longer.”
Reyes’ investigation — which can also be carried out by a so-called “special master” — will examine whether lawyers from the Justice Department intentionally misled the court about the administration’s plans for the East Potomac renovation project. At the center of the investigation appears to be the DOJ’s sudden reversal on the administration’s plans to close the park for renovations. On Oct. 19, DOJ lawyers insisted the administration had no plans to close the golf course. Nine days later, the administration announced plans to close the golf course for renovations on Nov. 15.
Reyes and the Trump administration have gone head-to-head over the golf course project several times in recent weeks, including a scorching back-and-forth earlier this month after the National Park Service cut down hundreds of trees on the property with little warning. The government said the Park Service’s actions were separate from the renovation efforts, but Reyes seemed unconvinced.
“I don’t know how I could’ve made it clearer,” Reyes said in a hearing on the tree-chopping. “What has happened has cost the government all of its credibility!”
In a series of social posts, the president has made clear his hopes to move quickly on the new course at East Potomac, which fits in with several planned projects involving D.C.’s historic landmarks, including the White House ballroom, the Kennedy Center, and a new “Triumphal Arch.”
“The current condition of the golf course is a National Disgrace,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “But we will make it a WORLD CLASS PUBLIC Golf Course that is AFFORDABLE for locals — Just like the Great and Historic Public Courses of Torrey Pines and Bethpage Black, only better.”
To date, the ongoing legal battle with local golfers and preservation groups has slowed the president’s plans at East Potomac, which aim to transform the $42 muni into a state-of-the-art facility capable of hosting major championships and Ryder Cups. Trump has enlisted his longtime design counterpart, Tom Fazio, to dream up the project, which would eliminate the existing Walter Travis-design and the park’s green spaces and bike paths.
Local golfers have pushed back against the project, arguing it would price out many of D.C.’s local muni players and destroy what remains of a historic, reversible municipal layout designed by one of golf’s most revered golden age architects.
