Park Service quietly awards contracts to work on Trump’s takeover of East Potomac golf course

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has awarded contracts to begin work on President Donald Trump’s planned takeover of the East Potomac Golf Links in Washington, Democrats on the House Natural Resources Committee said Wednesday.

Rep. Jared Huffman of California, the panel's top Democrat, revealed during a committee hearing that the National Park Service hired a civil engineering firm to begin work on the historic public golf course, without any public announcement or heads-up to Congress. A lawsuit challenging Trump’s plan to revamp the golf course argues that the administration’s redevelopment would violate the congressional act that created the park more than a century ago.

“Now, this is not just any old golf course. This is a beloved public space with huge historic significance,” Huffman said.

Trump is “systematically moving to take this historic, publicly accessible resource and turn it into another gilded private golf club for the mega-rich,” Huffman said, calling the project “a methodical, deliberate effort to take a public park away from the people,” with American taxpayers footing the bill.

A contract approved last week authorizes nearly $400,000 for a Massachusetts-based company to perform environmental and historic preservation compliance work at the course, Huffman said. The park service has since posted a projected construction contract worth up to $49 million, with an expected solicitation date of Jan. 31, 2027.

“Democrats on this committee are tracking all of this. We’re going to keep dragging it all into the daylight until the public gets the answers we deserve,” Huffman said in a statement. “We’re not going to let Donald Trump walk off with our public lands. That park belongs to the American people, and I’m not willing to sit here and watch him simply steal it.”

The $389,355 award to Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc., which also has an office in Washington, D.C. and other parts of the country, follows months of activity at the park. The administration said this spring it has reached an agreement with Fazio Golf Design to draw up plans for the renovations. Trump has said he wants to turn the golf course into a world-class golf venue. It’s part of his grand vision for Washington, D.C., where he has torn down storied structures, remade or renamed others and deployed the National Guard for more than a year.

Huffman, Maryland Reps. Jamie Raskin and Glenn Ivey, along with District of Columbia Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton and Virginia Rep. Don Beyer, sent a letter to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and acting park service director Jessica Bowron demanding all documents, communications and records on the project.

“East Potomac Park does not belong to Donald Trump,” the lawmakers wrote. “It belongs to the American people, and it has for more than a century.”

Spokespeople for the Interior Department and National Park Service did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

East Potomac Park, including the East Potomac Golf Links, was created by a congressional act in 1897, which established the park for the “recreation and the pleasure of the people.” The course opened in 1919.

Trump, who has multiple projects underway in the capital city, including a $400 million White House ballroom and the soon-to-begin construction of his triumphal arch, began talking about the city’s public courses late last year.

Debris from the demolished East Wing of the White House was dumped at East Potomac, forming a three-story mound near one of its three golf courses, which remains there. The National Park Service has said that the debris tested positive for lead, chromium and other toxic metals.

“When completed, this Course will have the ability to host Major Golf Tournaments, including The U.S. Open, The Ryder Cup, The PGA Championship, and other top PGA Tour events,” Trump posted on social media in June. He said then that work was meant to begin on Sept. 1.

Some area residents fear the planned changes to the golf course risk altering the character of a place that has served Washingtonians of many stripes for more than a century. Turning the park into an upscale golf course will likely mean higher fees and a loss of public space, residents worry.