As Katie Zacharia said goodbye to her role as White House press secretary after just three days at the weekend, her farewell post appeared to include a blurred out document on the president’s Oval Office desk.
On Friday night, Zacharia shared a post on X of herself standing near President Trump in the Oval Office where a set of blue books and a blurred map sat.
It was not long before people spotted the addition. Local advocacy group Save East Po quickly claimed that the blurred map was East Potomac park, the location of a bitter renovation debate as the president plans to redevelop a golf course there.
The apparent presence of redevelopment material on Trump's desk could prove awkward for the administration as it fights a lawsuit over East Potomac. The government has maintained that recent tree-clearing was separate from Trump's proposed redesign, while a federal judge has questioned that account and is examining how far the administration's plans had progressed and who ordered work at the site.
Newsweek reached out to the White House via email for comment.
...
Why the Blurred Image Could Matter
Donald Trump posted on Truth Social on Sunday that "restoration work will begin" on the golf course on November 15, despite a current court order by U.S. district judge Ana Reyes that temporarily bars further tree removal.
Judge Reyes has previously ordered that the government must give notice before any substantial work on the site could take place, something that was not given when more than 500 trees were removed from the historic golf course earlier this month.
Reyes was furious at the removal of the trees. "I trusted you all not to do precisely what you have done," she said, adding that she was "at a total loss" to understand the government’s actions.
The administration has maintained that the tree cutting was separate from Trump's redesign, saying it implemented recommendations from a 2019 cultural-landscape report. But Reyes has already expressed skepticism about that explanation.
"It is a coincidence, the government seems to suggest, that [the Department of the Interior] cut down hundreds of trees at the course weeks after the president asked DOI to cut down trees at the course," she said on October 13.
The legal battle has become increasingly acrimonious. On Friday, the Justice Department sought to have Reyes disqualified from the case, accusing her of bias against the Trump administration.
Reyes rejected the request on Sunday, leaving her in charge of proceedings as senior administration officials face questioning over the work at East Potomac.
Trump Reveals East Potomac Golf Course Plan
When Zacharia’s first post on Friday evening drew scrutiny over the presence of potential Potomac-related documents, in her next post on Saturday the map that was previously visible was no longer there, with the area appearing blurred.
Just a day later, President Trump made an announcement on his Truth Social site, sharing a picture with striking similarities to the blurred image on the desk that featured the administration’s plans for the new golf course.
"I am pleased to announce that the Department of the Interior, under the auspices of Secretary Doug Burgum, and in conjunction with famed Golf Course Architect, Tom Fazio, has developed a plan to build a World Class Championship Golf Course on the site of the current East Potomac Golf Links, located in Washington, D.C.," Trump said on social media.
The president said that the current course is "old, broken, dilapidated, and of no further use or effect." He added, "It is in very poor condition, with falling, dangerous, and disease infested trees and, importantly, a collapsing and hazardous seawall."
The plans shared by the president on Sunday night were described as "initial conceptual design and ideas," which is a stark departure from the administration’s declaration on Friday that no plans had yet been made—the position held before Zacharia’s social posts.
...
Judge Demands Answers From Trump Administration
Judge Reyes also spotted the Truth Social post, ordering the government to notify her by 8 p.m. ET on Sunday if their position had changed from a court filing on Friday that said Trump has given "at most a preliminary thought to" the plan to rebuild East Potomac Golf Course.
The government responded Sunday saying its position had not changed. It maintained that there was "no final agency action" because the National Park Service had not completed its review and the plan remained non-final.
On Monday, senior administration officials are set to to appear in front of Judge Reyes to testify about how the East Potomac tree-removal plan came about, why it was carried out so quickly, and who was responsible for it.
Jessica Bowron, acting director of the National Park Service and Gregory Wischer, deputy chief of staff at the Department of the Interior, will testify in front of Reyes who is working to identify "whether or not I've been lied to," she said.
On Sunday evening in another Truth Social post, President Trump appeared to take aim at Judge Reyes’ rulings ahead of Monday’s hearing.
"The judge on the case is a crazed lunatic whose courthouse tapes will reveal, may be insane? The tapes have been blocked from usage by the judge. The random golfer bringing the ridiculous lawsuit has ZERO STANDING," the president wrote on Truth Social, adding: "The experts at 'Interior' are allowed to do this First Class renovation 'as of right.' They do not need an approval. Work is scheduled to begin IMMEDIATELY! The finished product will be World Class, and bring income and great prestige back to D.C."
Newsweek’s reporters and editors used Martyn, our AI assistant, to produce this story. Learn more about Martyn here. Contact Newsweek editors for this story: Robert Greenall and Rebecca Flood