Sports

A Federal Judge Caught the Trump Administration in a Contradiction — Over a Golf Course

By Curtis Jones · May 5, 2026

The hearing was supposed to be routine. A federal judge calling in Justice Department attorneys for an early Monday morning conference to make sure nothing drastic had happened over the weekend at a public golf course in Washington, D.C.

It did not stay routine for long.

U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes opened the conference by pressing DOJ lawyers on what exactly had been happening at East Potomac Golf Links over the weekend — after reports surfaced that the Trump administration had planned to shut the course down as early as Sunday evening, with construction and tree clearing to begin Monday morning.

Then a DOJ lawyer told the court that no closure notice had been issued. A note was handed to the judge. Closure signs had already gone up at East Potomac.

The government’s own lawyer had just told a federal judge something that turned out to be false. In real time. With the judge holding the contradicting evidence.

The superintendent of the National Mall acknowledged his staff were still looking for the signs. The hearing ended with a clear court order: the Trump administration must get approval and notify the court before beginning any construction work at the course.

East Potomac Golf Links is a 100-year-old public golf course on the Tidal Basin with sweeping views of the Capitol and the Potomac River. The National Links Trust — a nonprofit that had operated the course under a 50-year lease secured during Trump’s first term — saw that lease terminated on January 1 of this year. Since then, what Trump actually intends to do with the course has been building quietly. This weekend it exploded.

Sources told Golf Digest that Trump wants to convert the course into a major championship or Ryder Cup venue, and that Tom Fazio — who has designed four Trump courses — toured the property under an alias in late 2025. That same afternoon, public records show, Fazio went to the White House and stayed more than three hours.

A fundraising document reviewed by the Washington Post showed a group called the National Garden of American Heroes Foundation circulating materials tied to a “comprehensive redevelopment and restoration” of East Potomac — alongside renderings of a lavish golf club. A DOJ lawyer told the court they were unaware of the fundraising, calling it a matter of potential executive privilege.

Judge Reyes was not satisfied. She drew explicit comparisons to two other Trump projects that moved faster than announced: the White House East Wing demolition and the Rose Garden paving. She told government attorneys: “Something is happening. I don’t know what it is. When you have a pledge going out with pictures, asking people for money, we’re pretty far down the road, okay?”

Her warning about what comes next was direct. “Let’s just say, given some issues around the district recently, I would have a particular concern that we not ask first and ask forgiveness later, because that’s not going to be acceptable.”

The course remained open Monday. A staff member at the pro shop told ABC News: “Until they shut us down, we are still here.”