Washington- The Interior Department is working on a plan to close the East Potomac Golf Links in Washington, D.C., by Nov. 15 after President Trump twice said the historic course would be temporarily closed for a redesign next month, senior Justice Department officials said Wednesday.
In a brief filing in U.S. District Court, Deputy Attorney General Stanley Woodward acknowledged Mr. Trump’s statements, shared with Truth Social, that East Potomac would close so it could be redeveloped “for reasons of competitiveness (along with other similar projects!), safety, modernization and aesthetics.”
“Accordingly, Interior, acting through counsel, is working to develop a plan to implement this guidance and will advise the Court accordingly,” Woodward said.
The Trump administration has been embroiled for months in a legal battle — brought by a local preservation group and two golfers — over the potential overhaul of East Potomac, a public course in the nation’s capital that has been open since 1920.
While administration officials have said there is no finalized proposal to redesign and renovate the course, only a “possible project,” the president announced on Truth Social earlier this month that the Department of the Interior, led by Secretary Doug Burgum, and Tom Fazio, a golf course architect, had “developed a plan to build a world-class championship golf course” in East Potomac.
The president said the current course would close on November 15 to allow work to begin on the new design, and the revamped course would open in about 15 months.
Mr. Trump’s announcement comes after U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes, who is overseeing the trial involving East Potomac, temporarily blocked the Trump administration to cut down trees on the course after more than 500 of them were felled in the space of a weekend.
AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein 
Reyes Monday issued a longer term order which continued to prohibit the government from “removing or damaging” trees on the site while the litigation continues. Opponents had argued that cutting down the trees was part of the Trump administration’s plan for the new course, and the judge agreed.
Reyes wrote in his 70-page ruling that “rarely, if ever, has the United States Department of Justice urged a federal court to disbelieve the sitting president,” after Woodward told the judge during a contentious hearing earlier this month that despite Mr. Trump’s messaging about an overhaul of the Potomac East, there was “no plan to close the course.”
“This began as a golf case. This beautiful walk spoiled,” Reyes wrote, adding that “it has become much more. It now requires the Court to reconcile the assertions of President Donald J. Trump with the sworn testimony of several government employees and the arguments of the Justice Department’s top lawyers.”
The Justice Department has since appealed Reyes’ decision. The judge said a court hearing would be scheduled for Friday or Monday to determine how the case should be handled in the coming days.
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit have not yet filed a motion asking Reyes to block the course’s closure and subsequent review.
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