Trump to close and renovate D.C. golf course, despite legal battle

President Trump has announced his plans to renovate the East Potomac Golf Links, a course in Washington D.C. that was already at the center of a testy legal battle.

In a Truth Social post on Sunday, Trump called the current course "old, broken, dilapidated, and of no further use or effect." According to the post, renovations will begin Nov. 15, and the course will be closed for approximately 15 months.

The area, 2 miles south of the White House, has been at the center of a heated legal battle for months. In February, a D.C. preservation group and two individuals challenged the U.S. Department of Interior and the National Parks Service over the planned renovations, arguing that a "championship-style golf course" would inflate tee-time costs for a golf facility that was originally intended to be "open to all people."

The Department of the Interior and the NPS have argued that the plaintiffs in the case have not established any actual harms done by the proposed changes, and that "plaintiffs' desire for NPS to cater to their aesthetic and recreational preferences does not create a legally protected interest."

In a hearing that grew heated at times, the federal judge in the case, Ana C. Reyes, ordered the administration to stop cutting down trees at the park.

Then on Friday, the defendants filed a motion seeking to disqualify Reyes, accusing her of bias. "Judge Reyes's behavior in this case is nothing short of egregious," the motion reads.

In his Truth Social Post, Trump made no note of the legal fight. He did state that the area was overgrown, and included a visual plan for the newly renovated golf course, "designed to the Highest Level of Golf and able to hold World Class Tournaments."

The next hearing in the case is scheduled for Monday.

Skye Perryman, President and CEO of Democracy Forward, one of the legal organizations representing the plaintiffs in the case, issued a statement saying "East Potomac Park is a national park, golf course, recreational facility that is meant for everyone to enjoy. Our litigation is intended to protect this community jewel for the people and communities it serves and we will continue to work with our plaintiffs to defend it from unlawful and harmful intrusion."

NPR has reached out to the legal representatives for the Department of the Interior and to the White House for comment but has not heard back.

The golf course is just one of many instances where the president is exerting power to make a permanent stamp on Washington D.C. Trump has threatened to tear down the Kennedy Center, he is seeking to build a 250-foot arch near the National Mall, and he has reinstated controversial statues, such as Confederate General Albert Pike, who has been identified by historians as being behind the development of the Ku Klux Klan.