Shortly after taking office for the second time, President Donald Trump extensively redecorated the White House. The Oval Office was updated with gold trim and ornate details inspired by his personal style. Now, his attention has turned to his Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach. According to a report from The Palm Beach Post, Trump wants his private golf club designated the official U.S. Presidential Golf Course, while his family keeps ownership.
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The outlet obtained a September 3 letter, sent to Palm Beach County commissioners by attorney Harvey Oyer, laying out the plan: once designated, the club could be “utilized by all past, current, and future United States Presidents and visiting foreign heads of state.”
Trump’s offer comes with “access to all” the facilities available at the club, at no cost to the federal government. The club will also cooperate with the General Services Administration and U.S. Secret Service to “design an appropriate Presidential lodging” inside the property. In addition, Trump International Golf Club, referred to as TIGC, will bear all costs of building the lodging.
“TIGC would pay the cost of constructing the Presidential lodging facility,” Oyer’s letter said. “This is a gift that the President would like to share with his successors, the people of America, and his fellow Palm Beach County residents. It should be noted that President Trump will be out of office before this proposed project could be completed, so this is a gift to his successors.”
The Trump family leases the land from Palm Beach County, a detail confirmed by Trump’s lawsuit against the airport, previously known as Palm Beach International Airport, which was renamed for Trump in July.
Still, County Administrator Joe Abruzzo told the outlet that Trump’s proposal is a “remarkable and historic opportunity” to have a permanent operational institution of the American presidency. Abruzzo went as far as to claim the county is “eager” to look deeper into the offer and “fully explore what this proposal could mean for our community”.
“This likely would further cement Palm Beach County’s place on the national and international stage for generations to come,” he added. “I look forward to working under the direction of our Board of County Commissioners as we explore this historic opportunity, and to working with President Trump and his team, our professional staff, and the appropriate federal agencies on what it could mean for Palm Beach County.”
If this happens, it would trigger a land-rights transaction in which the president would grant the county legal rights to “the specified land necessary” for the new lodging facility and its associated “support structures.”
To bolster the case, Oyer emphasized the course’s design and security credentials, calling Trump International a “best-in-class course design and golf club with superior amenities” and ranking it among the “most secure golf courses in the world,” noting it is “equipped with the most advanced security and protection systems, making it ideal for such a use.”
Trump owns or manages 16 to 17 golf properties worldwide. According to his presidential financial disclosure in June, he earned $36.9 million in his first year back as president from Trump International. He also made $77.4 million from his Mar-a-Lago Club, where Trump lives and operates a for-profit social club.
Oyer cited Eisenhower’s donation of Gettysburg Farm and FDR’s Hyde Park estate as precedent.
The day after Trump’s golf course proposal became public, a federal judge imposed restrictions on his Arlington National Cemetery arch project.
U.S. District Judge orders the Donald Trump Administration to provide advance notice
The Trump administration has suffered a setback in its plans to build a 250-foot arch near Arlington National Cemetery. A day after Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced that excavation work could begin within the next two weeks, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan ordered the administration to provide 48 hours’ notice before carrying out any activity at Memorial Circle beyond on-site information gathering to identify underground cultural artifacts.
The order came a day after Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced that excavation work could begin within the next two weeks.
“We are preparing to start, over the next two-week period, the excavation work necessary for the Great Triumphal Arch and Military Observation Deck,” Burgum wrote on X.
The administration, however, maintains that the planned work is only an archaeological survey. According to a court filing, officals intend to mechanically excavate four test pits no earlier than September 21 before restoring the area by October 31.
“This activity is not construction, or demolition in preparation for construction, of an arch,” the government said.
From the Oval Office to a Florida fairway to the grounds of Arlington, Trump’s imprint on the nation’s capital, and beyond, keeps expanding.