Trump Proposes Camp David-Style Presidential Retreat at Florida Golf Course

President Donald Trump announced plans on Wednesday to develop land at one of his golf courses in Florida into a presidential retreat for his successors, adding that he envisaged it being “sort of a Camp David.”

Trump said the retreat, at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, had been suggested by the U.S. Secret Service, and he thought it was a “great idea.”

“It seems that all presidents play golf,” Trump said. “And I was asked by Secret Service and the military, who got used to it because if I go there they’ll see that it’s about as safe as they could possibly get.”

‘This Wouldn’t Be for Me’

“This wouldn’t be for me, this would be for all future presidents,” Trump said.

“It’s only about two minutes away from the airport. So they literally would be at that site, and they could spend a weekend there, like a retreat, like sort of a Camp David retreat.”

Previous presidents, dating back to Franklin D. Roosevelt, have used Camp David, a federal government-owned compound in Maryland, which is surrounded by woodland, as a weekend retreat and a place to host presidential meetings.

In September 1978, then-Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and then-Egyptian President Anwar Sadat signed the historic Camp David Accords there, after negotiations that led to Cairo recognizing the state of Israel. In return, Israel agreed to withdraw its forces from the Sinai Peninsula, which it had occupied since the war in 1967.

Trump has visited Camp David—which is formally known as Naval Support Facility Thurmont—less than most of his predecessors, preferring to spend his weekends at his own properties, especially Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, where he has hosted many world leaders, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in December 2025.

In December, Trump will host the G20 summit of world leaders at his Doral golf resort in Miami. Last month, a senior Trump administration official said Russian President Vladimir Putin would be invited.

Trump was asked about the retreat by a reporter in the Oval Office, after an article appeared in the Palm Beach Post newspaper last month reporting that Trump’s lawyer, Harvey Oyer, had written a letter to Palm Beach County commissioners on Sept. 3 formally submitting the proposal.

“Just as Camp David, Windsor Castle, or the Elysée Palace are known worldwide, so too will the Presidential Golf Course in Palm Beach County,” Oyer said in the letter.

The Epoch Times reached out to Oyer for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.

‘Historic Opportunity’

Palm Beach County Administrator Joseph Abruzzo said in a statement to the Palm Beach Post that he was eager to explore this “historic opportunity.”

Trump, who has been the subject of several assassination attempts, said the West Palm Beach location had the advantage, if it were to become a presidential retreat, since there are no high buildings in the area.

He said there are no houses overlooking the course, and therefore there would be no need for the Secret Service to inspect neighboring properties before the arrival of a president or his VIP guests.

“You don’t have houses with people hiding behind windows,” he said.

On Sept. 15, 2024, Trump, who was a presidential candidate at the time, was targeted by a would-be assassin, Ryan Routh, who pointed a rifle through a fence at him as he played golf at the Trump International course in West Palm Beach.

Routh—a supporter of Ukraine and various other causes—was confronted and detained by Secret Service agents before he was able to shoot at Trump. He was sentenced to life in prison in February 2026.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.