President Donald Trump stated on Sunday that work will start Sept. 1 on the general public East Potomac Golf Course regardless of a federal judge’s warning of “critical penalties” if the administration begins main work with out getting approval and notifying the courtroom prematurely.
Trump took a tour of a number of the initiatives he has commissioned or plans to on a wet Sunday morning.
The president’s motorcade swung by Lafayette Park close to the White Home and round Memorial Circle in entrance of Arlington Nationwide Cemetery, the place he plans to construct his 250-foot-high triumphal arch, and by the Kennedy Heart, to which he had added his title earlier than a judge ordered it removed.
President Donald Trump talks with aides and others as he visits East Potomac Golf Course at Hains Level in Washington, D.C., June 28, 2026.
Ken Cedeno/Reuters
Trump’s declare that he is transferring ahead with the renovations to East Potomac Park observe a lawsuit filed by the nonprofit Nationwide Hyperlinks Belief relating to its lease on D.C. public golf programs. The administration terminated its settlement with Nationwide Hyperlinks Belief in December, saying it hadn’t lived as much as its settlement on upkeep of the programs, which the Nationwide Hyperlinks Belief disputes.
An settlement was reached in Could that permits the nonprofit to proceed working the course as Trump’s renovation plans progress.
Attorneys for the D.C. Preservation League warned that the East Potomac property can be “razed” by the Trump administration earlier than anybody may cease it, citing the speedy demolition of the White House’s East Wing.
A federal choose warned the administration that it was to not proceed with renovations on East Potomac earlier than getting correct approvals and notifying her first.
“I will say this yet one more time, and I don’t want a scenario the place one thing has occurred after which I am being informed by the federal government or by a basis or by a bulldozing firm that it is too late to do something about it,” U.S. District Choose Ana Reyes stated. “If something like that occurs … there are going to be critical penalties.”
U.S. Inside Secretary Doug Burgum, left, and Natalie Harp, government assistant to the president, converse with President Donald Trump throughout a go to to East Potomac Golf Course in Washington, D.C., June 28, 2026.
Ken Cedeno/Reuters
Trump guarantees the course, which he stated might be renovated and redesigned by a public-private partnership, might be “one of many Biggest Golf Programs wherever within the World” on the location and stated it is going to be open to the general public.
Trump stated the work on the might be constructed by the Division of the Inside with golf course architect Tom Fazio overseeing the venture.
He stated the brand new course might be “designed to the Highest Requirements of Golf, but additionally in such a manner that the Common Public will adore it” and that when it is accomplished, the course could have be capable of host main golf tournaments just like the U.S. Open, the Ryder Cup, the PGA Championship and different prime PGA Tour occasions.
Trump was joined on the course on Sunday by Inside Secretary Doug Burgum, Fazio and the architect’s son Gavin Fazio.
Trump stated his journey was for “learning the dilapidated, worn out, and really harmful and outdated Golf Course often known as East Potomac Golf Hyperlinks.” He stated on his social media platform “on this unbelievable website, with water and unparalleled views of D.C.’s Monuments, we are going to construct one of many Biggest Golf Programs wherever within the World which, importantly, will even be made out there to the Public.”
President Donald Trump’s motorcade drives round Memorial Circle, the location of his proposed triumphal arch in Arlington, Virginia, throughout the Potomac River from Washington, DC, June 28, 2026.
Kent Nishimura/AFP through Getty Photos
Trump additionally supplied an replace on the $16 million overhaul of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, saying it is now in “full use” however will be treated again to be in “excellent form” after July 4, and repeated claims, with out offering proof, that the algae blooms that erupted within the pool and a newly utilized liner that seems to be peeling away from the underside, was brought on by vandals.
“The Reflecting Pool is now in full use after struggling nice harm from Prison, Radical Left Vandals, folks that actually hate our Nation,” Trump wrote.
“Proper after July 4th, once we will drain the water to deal with the harm brought on by these “animals,” it’ll once more be in excellent form. Within the meantime, it’s working nicely, the criminally made algae is gone, and the grass, which was destroyed, is being changed shortly,” he added.
