Manager at Trump's N.J. Golf Club Helped Plan Reflecting Pool Repairs

Source: New York Times

May 19, 2026, 1:13 p.m. ET


The general manager of President Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, N.J., has offered suggestions to guide the renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and helped recruit one of the contractors for the job, according to federal documents and a government spokeswoman. The manager, David Schutzenhofer, who has run the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster since 2006, is a private citizen with no known training in engineering or architecture.

An Interior Department spokeswoman said Mr. Schutzenhofer had advised the government on the repair project without becoming a temporary government employee. Had he become one, he would have been required to take ethics training and pledge to avoid conflicts of interest.

“Mr. Schutzenhofer is unpaid and is volunteering his time to offer suggestions on this project because he is an American patriot,” the spokeswoman, Katie Martin, said in an email. She called Mr. Schutzenhofer a world-renowned leader in the hospitality industry and said he did not “direct” any federal contracts. The department did not provide details about Mr. Schutzenhofer’s involvement in the project.

Neither Mr. Schutzenhofer nor the Trump Organization responded to requests for comment. In response to questions, Taylor Rogers, a White House spokeswoman, said in an email, “Thanks to President Trump, the Reflecting Pool will be restored to its proper glory!”. Mr. Trump previously took credit for picking one of the contractors repairing the Reflecting Pool, saying the company had worked on the swimming pool at his golf club in Sterling, Va. But the president later reversed himself, saying he did not know the firm.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/19/us/politics/reflecting-pool-trump-schutzenhofer.html