Trump Backs Camp David-Style Presidential Retreat at His West Palm Beach Golf Club on County Land

President Donald Trump on Wednesday publicly endorsed a plan to build a permanent, Camp David-style presidential retreat on part of Trump International Golf Club West Palm Beach, a proposal that would require Palm Beach County to hand a piece of its own land to the federal government. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Oct. 7, Trump said the project was not for himself. "This wouldn't be for me," he said. "This would be for all future presidents."

The idea, first laid out in a September letter from the club's lawyer to the Palm Beach County Commission, would make the county that already hosts Mar-a-Lago the home of an official federal retreat for sitting presidents and visiting foreign leaders. County Administrator Joseph Abruzzo told The Washington Post the county is seriously considering the proposal and is in contact with the U.S. General Services Administration, the agency that manages federal real estate.

What Trump said in the Oval Office

Trump described the club's location as its main selling point. "It's only about two minutes away from the airport," he said, referring to Palm Beach International Airport, which sits beside the course. He said visiting leaders could spend the weekend there, "like a sort of Camp David retreat."

He also said the idea did not originate with him. According to the Miami Herald and the BBC, Trump told reporters the Secret Service and the military suggested the site, and that he agreed to go along. "They asked if I'd be willing to do it, and I said I would be," he said. He argued the property is easy to protect because there are no tall buildings overlooking it, adding, "It's about as safe as they could possibly get." The BBC reported that it asked the Secret Service for comment on Trump's account and had not received a reply.

Asked whether the retreat would be called "Camp Donald," Trump answered that the property already has a name. "Well, it's already called Trump International. It's one of the best golf courses in the world," he said. He also noted, "Seems that all presidents play golf."

What the club's lawyer asked the county to do

The formal request came from Harvey Oyer III, a West Palm Beach attorney representing the club. His letter to county commissioners, dated Sept. 3 according to the BBC's account of the Palm Beach Post's reporting, asks the county to let the course be designated a permanent "U.S. Presidential Golf Course" for use by sitting and former presidents and visiting heads of state. The Palm Beach Post first reported the letter in September.

Under the terms described in the letter and in coverage by The Washington Post, the Miami Herald and other outlets:

• Palm Beach County, which owns the land beneath the club, would provide a parcel to the federal government, with the county then entering into a lease with the appropriate federal agency.
• Trump would pay to build a presidential residence and related facilities, designed with the GSA and the Secret Service, at "no cost to the federal government," according to the letter.
• The government compound would have its own entrance, separate from the private club, representatives for Trump told county officials.
• The Trump Organization would keep running the rest of the 27-hole course as a private club and would continue making lease payments to the county.
• Future presidents would receive complimentary memberships to the club.

Oyer told The Washington Post the facilities would not be finished before Trump leaves office, and his letter calls the project a "gift" to Trump's successors. The letter compares the hoped-for stature of the retreat to Camp David, Windsor Castle and the Elysee Palace. Oyer said no name has been chosen.

A White House official told The Washington Post the site "has great security features, is close to law enforcement, and happens to be a highly-rated golf course."

Palm Beach County's role and the land underneath

The arrangement hinges on land the public already owns. Trump International Golf Club opened in 1999 on county property leased to Trump's company, an arrangement that grew out of a settlement with the county involving Palm Beach International Airport, according to CBS12 in West Palm Beach. A 2021 Palm Beach Post report put Trump's rent for the property at $88,338 a month; current terms were not detailed in this week's coverage. Trump reported nearly $37 million in income from the course last year, The Washington Post reported.

Abruzzo said in a statement to the Palm Beach Post that the county is weighing the request and that he looks forward to "working under the direction of our Board of County Commissioners." CBS12 reported he described the idea as a potentially "remarkable and historic opportunity" for the community. County officials have begun work to identify a parcel, according to The Washington Post. No commission vote has been reported, and none of the coverage this week identified a date for one.

Why Palm Beach County, and the security history

Trump has spent much of his second term's leisure time in Palm Beach County, using Mar-a-Lago for meetings with foreign leaders and the West Palm Beach course for golf. One online tracker cited by The Washington Post counted at least 137 days of golf in his second term. He has visited Camp David far less often than recent predecessors: 15 times in his first term and four times so far in his second, compared with 39 visits each for Barack Obama and Joe Biden, according to People magazine.

The club also carries a grim security history. On Sept. 15, 2024, a Secret Service agent spotted a gunman hiding in shrubbery along the course while Trump, then a candidate, was playing. The man, Ryan Routh, was convicted of attempting to assassinate a presidential candidate in September 2025 and was later sentenced to life in prison. The White House has cited the site's security, its proximity to law enforcement and the lack of nearby buildings as reasons it is suitable.

Florida has hosted presidents before

A presidential getaway in Florida would not be new. The Miami Herald noted several precedents:

Mar-a-Lago itself has a federal history. Its builder, Marjorie Merriweather Post, left the estate to the federal government hoping it would serve as a presidential retreat, but the government returned it to her estate because of upkeep costs, and Trump later bought it. Camp David, by contrast, is a 125-acre Navy-run installation in Maryland's Catoctin Mountain Park, about 65 miles from Washington, first used by Franklin Roosevelt and best known for the 1978 Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt.

The Herald's analysis noted what sets the West Palm Beach plan apart: earlier retreats were either federal property or a president's own home, while this one would place a permanent federal facility directly beside a private business owned by the sitting president's family. That arrangement is likely to draw scrutiny as the county and federal agencies work through the details.

What's next

The proposal still needs action from the Palm Beach County Commission, which would have to approve giving up or leasing a parcel, and from federal agencies, which would have to accept and manage the site. County staff and the GSA are in discussions, Abruzzo said, but no agreement, parcel size or timeline has been made public. Trump will also host the Group of 20 summit at his Trump National Doral resort in Miami-Dade County in December, keeping South Florida at the center of his diplomatic calendar while the retreat plan is reviewed.