President Donald Trump has proposed converting his West Palm Beach golf course into a presidential weekend retreat he called “sort of a Camp David,” telling aides the property already has many security features needed to host presidents and visiting world leaders. The plan, which Trump says was suggested by the U.S. Secret Service, has been submitted to Palm Beach County officials and would combine the presidency with one of the former president’s private business holdings.
Speaking in the Oval Office, Trump described the advantages of the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach — a short drive from his Mar-a-Lago residence — saying the site is close to an airport and removed from residential homes and tall buildings that can pose security risks. “It’s a great idea, and it’ll be used a lot,” Trump said, according to the report.
The proposal was outlined in a letter to Palm Beach County commissioners from attorney Harvey Oyer that was first reported by the Palm Beach Post. Oyer said Trump is offering to designate the course as a “U.S. Presidential Golf Course” and suggested it could be used by current and former presidents as well as visiting foreign heads of state.
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Under the plan described in Oyer’s letter, the Trump Organization — which owns the golf club but leases the land from Palm Beach County — would pay to build a new presidential lodging and then work with the Secret Service and other federal agencies to provide free access for the government. Any changes to the leased land would require county approval, the letter said. Oyer wrote that the retreat would have a separate entrance from the private club.
Palm Beach County Administrator Joseph Abruzzo told local officials they are “eager to explore what this historic opportunity could mean to the community,” writing that the designation “likely would further cement Palm Beach County’s place on the national and international stage for generations to come,” according to the report.
Oyer framed the offer as a gift to future presidents, noting that Trump “will be out of office before this proposed project could be completed so this is a gift to his successors.” The letter also cited precedents of presidents donating land for public purposes, noting that Dwight Eisenhower gave his Gettysburg farm to the National Park Service and Franklin D. Roosevelt donated part of his Hyde Park estate.
The report notes the golf club has played a prominent role in Mr. Trump’s post-White House presence: the private club earned nearly $37 million during his first year back in office, according to his financial disclosure cited in the filing.
The account also records a recent security incident at the West Palm Beach course. During a 2024 break from the campaign trail, a Secret Service agent observed an armed man in trees along the club’s perimeter fence; the man was arrested after a chase, later convicted of trying to kill Trump and sentenced to life in prison, the report said. The president did not mention that attempt when discussing the proposed retreat.
Past presidents have used Camp David, the Maryland mountain compound, as a weekend retreat and a place for presidential meetings; Trump has instead frequently used his private properties, including golf clubs in Florida, New Jersey and Virginia. The new proposal follows a string of ideas tied to Trump’s sense of presidential legacy — the report lists prior projects he has proposed, including creating a White House ballroom, gilding the Oval Office, building a triumphal arch, renovating the Kennedy Center, refurbishing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, rebuilding a golf course in East Potomac Park and planning a future presidential library in a Miami skyscraper.
Mar-a-Lago itself was proposed decades ago as a “Winter White House.” The estate, once owned by socialite Marjorie Merriweather Post and briefly transferred back to her estate by the National Park Service, was purchased by Trump in 1985 and later became his primary residence.
Binkley reported from Washington.
