Democrat seeks guardrails to stop Trump buying Washington golf course after taxpayer-funded renovation

A House Democrat is asking congressional appropriators to put guardrails in place that would prevent President Donald Trump from exploiting a loophole in federal law to buy the East Potomac Golf Course, which he has been pushing to renovate with taxpayer funds. Rep. Jared Huffman, the ranking Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, wrote to the top Republicans and Democrats on the House and Senate Appropriations committees saying Trump would face little pushback if he tried to carry out such a plan.

The East Potomac Golf Course is a public course in Washington, on a peninsula between the Potomac River and the Washington Channel. Trump's plans to renovate it face legal challenges, but the president has repeatedly said work on the course would begin on November 15. ABC News has reached out to the White House for comment on Huffman's letter.

'The rush to complete the repairs on the taxpayer dime is concerning in light of the Committee's review of a provision of federal law that gives the Department of the Interior Secretary a potential tool to transfer ownership of East Potomac Park to the President or his allies,' Huffman wrote in the letter obtained by ABC News.

Huffman said the law could allow Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to put the course up for sale and 'hand-pick buyers through a private solicitation'. US Code allows the Interior secretary, 'for the best interests of the Federal Government', to sell real estate held by the government in the District of Columbia and under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service that may no longer be needed for public purposes, with the approval of the National Capital Planning Commission.

The National Capital Planning Commission, a federal agency led by Trump's hand-picked appointees, is to consider the president's plans for the golf course and the surrounding park — a site of a popular running and biking loop and picnic areas — at its December 3 meeting. The commission is also expected to approve plans for Trump's controversial 250-foot-tall 'triumphal arch' in front of Arlington National Cemetery at its November 5 meeting; that project also faces legal challenges.

The administration has asked Congress for $500 million for the National Park Service for 'targeted restoration and construction' of the seawall around East Potomac Park and of the World War II Memorial on the National Mall. The seawall around the park was built in the 1890s, according to the Park Service, and has 'significantly settled and been compromised' since its construction, leading to what it calls 'dangerous' conditions in some sections.

Huffman pointed to a social media post by Burgum in May saying the project is likely not viable without overhauling the seawall. 'In other words, President Trump's desired golf course overhaul requires the seawall to be repaired,' he wrote in the letter.

'If the President's desire to restore the seawall is a good faith effort to rehabilitate our public lands, as is the desire of Congress, then he should have no objection to commonsense guardrails on his supplemental funding request. His objection would be telling,' Huffman wrote to the appropriators. 'As proposed, this taxpayer funding could pay for the President's proposed transformation of the accessible, multi-use, and historic East Potomac Park into a single elite championship golf course, while leaving open the possibility that his administration could sell the property to Trump himself,' he wrote. 'Without clear guardrails, taxpayers could end up footing the bill for seawall repairs that ultimately help pad Trump's golf course portfolio.'

Meanwhile, two golfers and the DC Preservation League have filed suit to stop the golf course project. A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the Interior Department to respond after Trump again reaffirmed his plan to close the course on November 15, directly contradicting repeated assertions from administration officials at a hearing last week. District Court Judge Ana Reyes separately ordered Associate Attorney General Stanley back into court on Friday, when she is expected to press him over previous statements assuring her that the November 15 date cited repeatedly by Trump was not under consideration.

On Monday, Reyes issued a preliminary injunction compelling the administration to give 10 days' notice in writing before making any 'irreparable modification' to any 'forms or features' of the course while the lawsuit is active.

In a post early Thursday morning, Trump defended his planned renovation of the course and shared photos of what he called 'highly dangerous, dilapidated, and absolutely disgusting' conditions. The president claimed a 'White House staffer' was 'hit violently in the chest' with a golf ball because of torn netting at the course's driving range. Returning from a campaign rally in South Carolina on Thursday, Trump refused to elaborate on which White House staffer was struck when asked by reporters. 'Oh, many people,' he said. 'It's very dangerous because the holes are too close. It's a very obsolete course, and we're doing very well. We're going to have something great for the country.'

In his Thursday morning post, the president said, 'The current condition of the golf course is a National Disgrace, but we will make it a WORLD CLASS PUBLIC Golf Course that is AFFORDABLE for locals.' He then threatened to hold Reyes 'fully responsible for anybody who is hurt, or killed, on this very dangerous, dilapidated, and unsightly Golf Course.'