President Trump says the Secret Service and military suggested turning his West Palm Beach golf course into a Camp David-style retreat, and the White House says the government is already looking into it.
Speaking Wednesday in the Oval Office during an unrelated event, President Trump said security professionals floated the idea of developing Trump International Golf Course in West Palm Beach, Florida, as a presidential getaway for future presidents.
He cast it as a practical answer to the same security and logistics problems that have long shaped presidential travel, open sight lines, fewer rooms to sweep, and a working site close to airlift and law enforcement.
A White House official confirmed the same day that the United States government has asked to look into developing a presidential retreat at the property so future presidents can hold important meetings and use the amenities of a world-class course.
Trump tied the proposal directly to the people charged with keeping a president alive.
“This was suggested to me by the military and Secret Service,” he said.
"There are no high buildings looming over it. There are no houses on it so you don't have houses, we have to inspect rooms. Seems that all presidents play golf."
The White House statement tracked the same checklist. The official said the property sits minutes from the Donald J. Trump International Airport, has no buildings looming over it, has no houses along the course, carries strong security features, sits close to law enforcement, and is a highly rated golf course.
“These are features that are necessary for any presidential retreat,” the official said.
Trump compared the concept to “sort of a Camp David retreat.” Camp David remains the long-standing presidential compound in Maryland used for secure meetings and downtime. The Florida pitch would give future administrations another option in a state presidents already visit heavily.
The idea did not appear out of thin air in the Oval Office alone. The Palm Beach Post first reported that an attorney for the golf course wrote Palm Beach County commissioners offering to designate the club as a presidential retreat that could also be used by foreign heads of state.
The Washington Examiner reported that Trump is seeking to turn a portion of the Palm Beach club into a permanent presidential retreat modeled in part on Camp David, with lodging for foreign leaders and a place future presidents could host summits or stay while vacationing in Florida. The plan was presented to county officials by the club’s legal counsel.
That local track matters. A formal designation from county government would be the first bureaucratic step if the property is ever treated as more than a private club the president already uses when he stays at Mar-a-Lago nearby.
Trump plays golf at the West Palm Beach course during those stays. A photo caption in the coverage shows him returning to Mar-a-Lago from the course on December 22, 2025, a familiar pattern for a president who works and rests in South Florida.
The White House statement did not say whose idea came first, or whose permission the government is seeking. Cost, and who would pay for any development, has not been disclosed.
Those gaps are real. A presidential retreat is not a weekend renovation. It involves secure communications, protective perimeters, lodging standards, and long-term access rules that outlast any one administration.
At the same time, the Secret Service has already paid the Trump Organization hundreds of thousands of dollars during his presidency to stay at his properties when protective details travel with him. That existing relationship is part of the operational backdrop, not a side note.
Separately, Trump is hosting the G20 summit of world leaders at Trump National Doral Miami in December, a different Florida property, and a reminder that large international gatherings already run through his resorts when the calendar and security picture line up.
Presidents need secure ground that is not a glass tower on a city block. They need airlift minutes away. They need rooms that do not require sweeping an entire residential street. They need a place foreign counterparts can land without turning a neighborhood into a lockdown.
The features Trump and the White House listed map to that job description: open sight lines, no adjoining houses, nearby airport, nearby law enforcement, and a working course that already hosts high-profile guests.
Whether the proposal becomes a formal federal project is still an open question. For now, the president has put the site on the table, the White House says the government is examining it, and the club’s lawyers have already written county officials about a presidential designation that could extend to foreign leaders.
Future presidents will still need somewhere safe to work, meet, and recover. A secure Florida course with clear sight lines and a short hop to the airport is exactly the kind of option a serious government should study on the merits.
