Katie Zacharia, who was ousted as White House press secretary on Friday, posted two photos that appear to have been digitally modified to conceal an image on President Donald Trump’s Oval Office desk.
Zacharia on Friday night posted a photo with the president in which a blurred image can be seen atop a stack of blue guidebooks on the desk.
Local advocacy groups said that the image appeared to be East Potomac Park, where Trump wants to make major changes to a federally owned golf course — an initiative that is the subject of a lawsuit.
FYI to anyone paying attention – that blurred out map on the PRESIDENT’S DESK is East Potomac Park. https://t.co/guRnhfzWhd
— Save East Po (@SaveEastPo) October 17, 2026
One important issue in the legal proceedings is whether the administration has already made significant decisions about the scope and timeline of its East Potomac project. After National Park Service crews cut down hundreds of trees in the park on Oct. 10, a federal judge sharply rebuked the administration, ordered a halt to tree removal and demanded that officials explain who gave the order. A hearing in the case is set for Monday.
After her first post drew scrutiny, Zacharia on Saturday afternoon posted a second photo with the president in which the blurred image on the desk is not visible.
Digital traces show the image has been modified, including alterations to the cover of the book on which the image was sitting — the White House Historical Association guidebook, which normally shows a picture of the executive mansion.
In Zacharia’s second post, the picture of the mansion is missing from the book’s cover.
Thank you, President Trump, for hosting my family and me in the Oval Office and for the generous gifts you gave my children on my son’s birthday. It was an unforgettable honor. pic.twitter.com/Ng3ty8vLpu
— Katie Zacharia (@KatieZacharia) October 17, 2026
The White House and Zacharia declined to respond to questions about whether the image is of East Potomac and why it was blurred.
White House communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement that The Washington Post was “breathlessly obsessing over an innocuous photo” and suffering from “a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome,” among other criticisms.
“Only the Washington Post would turn a very sweet picture into something controversial,” Zacharia wrote in a text message.
The Post has not independently verified that the image is of East Potomac Park. Past administration officials have sometimes blurred out sensitive items in photos posted to social media, such as obscuring military targets.
Alex Rosen, who launched the community watchdog group Save East Po and has closely tracked the administration’s plans for the property, said he instantly recognized the shape of the image on the Resolute Desk.
“It’s a distinctive shape,” Rosen said, referring to the peninsula on which the park sits. “When you look at that photo, it is very clear that you can draw comparisons between that and what the peninsula looks like.”
Rosen said other details also resemble previously circulated East Potomac renderings, including the colors and placement of what appears to be lettering around the image.
“I’ve spent a ton of time looking at that photo,” he said. “That silhouette looks pretty damning, and it looks almost identical to what East Potomac looks like.”
Government lawyers have repeatedly maintained that there is not yet a final design for East Potomac and that recent work at the course — including the tree removal — is separate from Trump’s proposed plan to transform the course into a world-class golf destination. They have said the broader project must first undergo environmental and historic-preservation reviews before a plan can be implemented.
But outside the courtroom, there have been repeated indications that a more detailed vision has been taking shape, including announcements by Trump, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and other officials.
“Work on the new Course, which will go quickly, will begin on September 1st,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post in June.
Those seemingly conflicting signals have drawn scrutiny from U.S. District Judge Ana C. Reyes, who is overseeing a lawsuit challenging the administration’s handling of East Potomac.
Reyes this week concluded that officials raced to carry out the tree-removal plan because of Trump’s demand for haste on his redesign. She questioned the government’s credibility and ordered two senior Interior Department officials — Gregory Wischer, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum’s deputy chief of staff for policy, and Jessica Bowron, acting director of the National Park Service — to testify at Monday’s hearing.
The Justice Department on Friday asked Reyes to recuse herself from the case, accusing her of “animus” and “open hostility” toward the administration.
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