By Jeff Mason
WASHINGTON, Dec 31 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump’s administration this week canceled a lease held by the nonprofit National Links Trust to oversee three public golf courses in Washington, a fresh opportunity for the president to put his stamp on a part of city life.
In a letter to NLT on Tuesday, Trump’s Interior Department said it was terminating the 50-year-lease the group received in 2020 to run the golf courses. The agency accused the nonprofit of failing to make required investments in the properties and failing to pay rent.
NLT disputed the allegations that it had defaulted on its lease or not paid what was required. It said the Interior Department had provided little information about the issue.
“Our lease allows rent to be offset by course improvements and rent offsets were approved by the National Park Service,” it said in an emailed statement. “NLT has worked hand in hand with the National Park Service over five years and the first we heard about any rent issue was in the last few weeks, after we received the default notice.”
The National Park Service is part of the Interior Department.
Trump, a Republican who came back into power earlier this year, has swept through Washington on multiple fronts since his return, deploying the National Guard to patrol its streets, renaming the Kennedy Center performing-arts venue as the Trump-Kennedy Center via a board he installed, and threatening to take over control of city government.
The president’s actions locally mirror his governing nationally, where Trump has launched onslaughts against universities, law firms, the media and other institutions, and levied tariffs that upended international relationships and caused swings in financial markets.
An avid golfer himself, Trump owns private golf courses all over the world, including one in nearby Virginia.
The NLT has overseen three public courses in Washington: East Potomac Park, Rock Creek Park and Langston Golf Course. The Interior Department said in its letter that NLT had not done capital improvements or renovations at each course that were required as part of the lease and had not shown the National Parks Service that it had a plan to do so.
“NLT failed to provide NPS with reasonable assurances that NLT has the necessary funding, ability or plan in place to fulfill its capital investment obligations,” it said in the letter, a copy of which was seen by Reuters.
The organization said it would continue to administer the golf courses for the time being to keep them open. Long-term renovation projects would cease, it said.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment on whether Trump had plans for the golf courses.
“The Trump administration prides itself on getting the job done for the American people and partnering with others who share that same goal,” the Interior Department said in a statement.
NLT said it would stay in contact with the administration and remained “stubbornly hopeful” it could find a way to preserve “affordable and accessible public golf” in Washington.
“Since taking over stewardship of Rock Creek, East Potomac, and Langston courses five years ago, NLT has consistently complied with all lease obligations as we work to ensure the brightest possible future for public golf in DC,” NLT said. “We are fundamentally in disagreement with the administration’s characterization of NLT as being in default under the lease.”
(Reporting by Jeff Mason; additional reporting by Ryan Patrick Jones; editing by Colleen Jenkins and David Gregorio)
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