Trump’s company asked to make his West Palm Beach club the permanent “Presidential Golf Course,” with free memberships for future presidents.

What happened

On September 3, 2026, Trump International Golf Club attorney Harvey Oyer III asked Palm Beach County commissioners to designate the West Palm Beach club the “permanent United States Presidential Golf Course.” It would be available to past, current and future presidents of either party and to visiting heads of state at the White House’s discretion.

The club would provide its facilities at no cost to the federal government and work with the General Services Administration and the Secret Service on a presidential lodging facility, paying the construction costs itself. The Washington Post reported that future presidents would also be offered comped memberships to the club. Oyer compared the offer to past gifts of presidential property, including Eisenhower’s Gettysburg farm.

Trump promoted the plan himself. Visiting leaders “could spend the weekend there, like a retreat — like sort of a Camp David retreat,” he said.

Who benefited

Trump’s family business, whose private club would become an official stop for presidents and foreign heads of state. Mar-a-Lago, his other Palm Beach club, raised its initiation fee to $1 million during his presidency.

Who wanted something

Trump, who owns the club through his family business. The proposal turns a business he still profits from into a site the federal government would use and the Secret Service would help design.

Who lost out

No public money changes hands under the letter, and no figure is attached to it. If the county agrees, presidents and foreign leaders would be hosted at a private business owned by the president who proposed it.

Why it matters

The president would hand the office a gift that keeps his own club at the center of it. Future presidents would be offered free memberships to a business owned by the man who proposed the arrangement.

Sources CBS AustinPolitical Wire (quoting The Washington Post)