Justice Department confirms closure of East Potomac Golf Course for Trump renovation

The Justice Department filed a notice Wednesday night confirming that the East Potomac Golf Course will close on Nov. 15, validating President Donald Trump's recent social media announcements regarding a 15-month renovation.

The filing states that the National Park Service will submit a rendering to the National Capital Planning Commission on Oct. 30. The design, created by Tom Fazio, depicts a championship-level course intended to host events such as the U.S. Open. The planning commission is scheduled to review the proposal at its Dec. 3 meeting.

This formal confirmation resolves a legal standoff that began on Oct. 18 when Trump announced the closure via social media. The president claimed the park would undergo renovation into a world-class facility. At the time, officials from the National Park Service, the Department of the Interior, and the Department of Justice testified that they had no knowledge of the plans, creating a discrepancy that U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes cited in issuing a preliminary injunction on Oct. 26.

Reyes' order temporarily bars the government from removing or damaging additional trees. It also requires the administration to provide 10 days' written notice before making any irreversible modifications to the course's features while the lawsuit remains active. The lawsuit was filed by the DC Preservation League and two golfers who challenged the project's timeline and scope.

The filing explains that the National Park Service has entered a new lease agreement with the National Links Trust. Under this deal, the trust will cease operating the East Potomac Golf Course by the close of business on Nov. 15. The trust will continue to operate two other public golf courses in the area.

The sequence of events has placed pressure on Justice Department lawyers to explain the gap between presidential statements and agency knowledge. On Tuesday, Reyes ordered Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward Jr. to appear in court to clarify whether a specific plan exists for the Nov. 15 closure. She later added that a representative from the Department of the Interior's Office of the Solicitor must also attend the hearing with prior experience on the case.

The litigation follows a period of accelerated activity after the government gave short notice to cut down hundreds of trees at the course. Plaintiffs argue the work causes irreversible damage and that the renovation will make the course unaffordable for the general public. In a Truth Social post Wednesday, Trump described the course as highly dangerous and dilapidated, asserting that local golfers have long begged for the site to be brought into pristine condition.

The golf course project is part of a wider campaign to alter Washington's historic landscape, which includes plans for a White House ballroom and a National Garden of American Heroes. The DC Preservation League is part of a coalition challenging these initiatives. Concurrently, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan will hold a hearing Friday on a motion to halt construction of a memorial arch in Memorial Circle, a project the administration plans to begin as early as Nov. 5.