Justice Department announces Trump plans for golf course are in the works, course will close Nov. 15

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department filed notice Wednesday night that President Donald Trump’s announcements that there are plans for renovating the East Potomac Golf Course and there are plans to close the park beginning Nov. 15 are accurate.

“On Friday, October 30, 2026, the National Park Service will submit to the National Capital Planning Commission for review a rendering designed by Tom Fazio for a World Class, championship-level golf course that is capable of hosting major events—such as the U.S. Open” and other events.

“Thereafter, on November 15, 2026, the National Park Service will close East Potomac Park south of Buckeye Drive, including the Golf Course, consistent with the President’s directive,” the filing said.

The planning commission will consider the plan at its Dec. 3, 2026 meeting.

The announcement is the latest move in a 10-day period that started with a social media posting by Trump Oct. 18 that the park would be closed Nov. 15 for the next 15 months while the park undergoes renovation into what the president has called a world-class facility.

Trump’s social media postings touched off a series of court hearings in the lawsuit filed by the DC Preservation League and two golfers challenging the plans. U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes issued a preliminary injunction Oct. 26, due in part to the discrepancy between the president’s public announcements and the testimony from various National Park Service, Interior Department and Justice Department officials who testified that they had no knowledge of the plans Trump was announcing.

The current preliminary injunction temporarily bars the government from removing or damaging any additional trees on the East Potomac Golf Course. The administration must give 10 days’ notice in writing before making any “irreparable modification” to any “forms or features” of the course while the lawsuit is active.

Reyes was planning another hearing to bring officials back to court to explain why the president continued to announce plans that said they had no knowledge of.

Wednesday’s filing explained that the National Park Service entered into a new lease agreement with the National Links Trust — the company currently responsible for operating the East Potomac Golf Course — under which the National Links Trust will cease operating the East Potomac Golf Course as of the close of business on or before Nov. 15, 2026, but will continue to operate two other public golf courses.

Trump’s social media posts on the renovation of the historic golf course had put Justice Department lawyers in the uncomfortable position of explaining whether the president of the United States should be believed or not.

On Tuesday, Reyes said the department should clarify “whether any plan exists to close East Potomac Golf Course on or around November 15, 2026.” She ordered Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward Jr. to appear in court Friday or Monday for a status hearing.

Tuesday’s order came in response to Trump’s social media post late Monday criticizing Reyes’ temporary injunction stopping work at East Potomac Park.

That injunction, issued Monday, was in large part due to previous Trump announcements — via social media — that plans had been completed for the golf course and construction would begin next month. Trump said the facility would be closed for 15 months. The following day he set the timetable to “immediately.”

Much of the activity in the court has accelerated this month, after the government gave the plaintiffs in the case short notice on plans to cut down hundreds of trees at the course.

The plaintiffs challenging the project claim the work is inflicting irreversible damage. Critics say Trump’s plan will make playing there unaffordable for the general public and destroy the site’s other uses.

The course renovation project is part of Trump’s aggressive campaign to leave his personal imprint on Washington’s historic landscape.

Those plans include construction of a huge ballroom at the White House, a massive arch, and the creation of a National Garden of American Heroes in West Potomac Park. The DC Preservation League is part of a coalition of organizations, including the Cultural Landscape Foundation and one D.C. resident, who have filed lawsuits challenging those plans.

There are several cases where judges have taken actions and issued injunctions or restraining orders because of the Trump administration’s push to begin work despite the pending lawsuits.