In October 2025, President Donald Trump announced the administration would begin a privately-funded $400 million renovation of the White House East Wing that would culminate in the construction of a 90,000-square-foot ballroom, justified publicly as a “secure military complex” and a national security measure. It was a framing Trump leaned heavily into following the White House Correspondent’s Dinner this year, in which a gunman charged a security checkpoint and opened fire. It was even referenced in the aftermath of the dinner by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who declared there was “no better example of why this ballroom is necessary.”
With construction well under way, the administration has turned to the logistical question of what to do with the so-far-collected 30,000 cubic yards of rubble from the demolished East Wing. The answer was a golf course—just not one that the president visits when he engages in rounds of his favorite past time. The rubble landed at the East Potomac Golf Links, a public course two miles from the White House that the president also plans to renovate into a “world-class” facility. However, new data indicates that debris contains toxic metals.
A recent interim sampling report published by the National Park Service and conducted by Jacobs Engineering Group Inc., a construction services firm that has consulted for the government for decades, found the soil collected last month at the golf course tested positive for lead, chromium, and other toxic metals. As of April, the National Park Service, part of the Department of the Interior that oversees federal land, had moved more than 2,000 truckloads of excavated soil from the White House East Wing to East Potomac Golf Links land.
“The soil was tested, multiple times by multiple parties, and this project passed all standards set by law,” a spokesperson for the Department of the Interior told Fortune, adding the testing process was “followed to ensure the transfer was safe for the public.”
Still, advocates for the preservation of the golf course have raised concerns about the safety, as well as continued usage, of the space. In February, the nonprofit DC Preservation League and two residents filed an injunction in February, claiming the dumped debris was hazardous. The group filed an emergency stay order earlier this week following reports that major renovations on the course would begin on Monday.
“Historic preservation is about maintaining the qualities that make a site an asset—affordability, openness, and architectural significance—rather than allowing for exclusive redevelopment,” DC Preservation League Executive Director Rebecca Miller, said in a statement in a press release announcing the lawsuit. “Losing this golf course would significantly impact our shared history and limit public access to one of the District’s vital recreation and green spaces.”
The East Potomac Gold Links opened in 1921, with President Warren G. Harding among the first to use the course. Today, the public course costs about $42 for 18 holes of play. In contrast, a membership for Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort cost $1 million, as of 2024.
Trump’s public campaign with public space
In December, the Trump administration cancelled the National Links Trust’s (which is the nonprofit organization in charge of the maintenance and operation of municipal golf courses in Washington, D.C.) lease to operate D.C.’s three public courses, including East Potomac Golf Links, though the nonprofit still maintains the property. This month, The Washington Post reported that a top fundraiser for Trump is looking for donations to a nonprofit to support the president’s plans to renovate the Waterfront area south of the National Mall, which is where the golf course is located, though there have been no final decisions made about “regarding the nature and scope of the revisions,” according to court filings.
This isn’t Trump’s first attempt to transform the capital’s public spaces. Trump’s second term has been marked by multiple efforts to reengineer D.C’s icons, including renaming and shutting down the Kennedy Center, as well as proposing the construction of a Paris-style triumphal arch by the Lincoln Memorial. Trump is also looking to renovate the National Mall’s reflecting pool—even sharing an AI-generated photo on TruthSocial of him shirtless in the pool along with Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and other cabinet members.
The president also intends to renovate golf courses with restricted public access located on a nearby military base.
Though the ballroom construction was originally funded through private donations, the 90,000-square-foot space may now cost taxpayers up to $1 billion due to updated security enhancements for the building.
Legal scrutiny over the East Potomac Golf Links renovation
The administration’s construction and renovation projects have drawn legal scrutiny in addition to questions of how the projects are being funded. The White House East Wing demolition and East Potomac Golf Links renovation are no exceptions.
Preservation groups, such as the National Trust for Historic Preservation, sued the administration in Dec. 2025, asking district courts to block the White House ballroom addition until the completion of design reviews, environmental assessments, public dialogue, and Congressional debate and ratification. Last year, the Trump administration replaced the central lawn of the White House Rose Garden with a paved patio, marking the most drastic reconstruction of the space since its 1913 creation.
On Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Ana Reyes told the U.S. government to not cut down more than 10 trees at the golf course without providing notice, though stopped short of issuing a temporary restraining order against the National Park Service. Referring to the sitcom “Parks and Recreation,” Reyes said she wanted to avoid playing the role of the government agency, but likewise wanted to avoid the felling of trees as part of the renovations.
“I’m no Amy Poehler,” she said.
