(17 Jul 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
San Francisco – 17 July 2025
1. Various of Presidio park visitors center exteriors
2. U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum exits vehicle and walks into visitors center
3. Various of Burgum listening to park official presentation
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Doug Burgum, U.S. Secretary of the Interior:
"What an asset for the entire Bay Area. What an asset to the country. And as we approach America 250, helping Americans understand and celebrate what a fantastic job with the National Park Service. And in this case, the Presidio Trust has done in preserving and enhancing this historic community. I think it’s just fantastic."
Reporter off camera asks: "Is the administration still considering eliminating the trust altogether since that was in an executive order in February from the president?"
Burgum: "I haven’t heard any been involved in any discussion related to that at all and so I and I think we’re actively looking for new members for the Presidio Trust so I’d have to check up on that but I haven’t heard a word of that and I think I would have in my position."
Reporter off camera asks: "Secretary what you see on the (Alcatraz) island?
Spokesperson: "So we’re going to support the Presidio here with the stop and the visit and the tour and we’re not going to take any more questions."
5. Burgum stamps National Park passport
6. Various of Burgum getting tour of Presidio
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Doug Burgum, U.S. Secretary of the Interior:
"National parks have been called America’s best idea and we need to invest in that but we need to help in the private sector as well."
8. Burgum walks away from reporter questions and gets into vehicle to leave
STORYLINE:
U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum and Attorney General Pam Bondi visited San Francisco’s Alcatraz Island on Thursday.
They toured the crumbling former federal prison, now part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, reviewing preliminary plans to reopen it as a high-security penitentiary under a directive from the Trump Administration.
During the roughly 90‑minute walkthrough, Burgum described the mission as the first phase in starting the work to renovate and reopen the site to house the most dangerous criminals and illegals, echoing President Trump’s earlier statements.
Media was not permitted to follow the group on their tour of Alcatraz.
Afterwards, Secretary Burgum separated from Bondi and continued to the nearby Presidio, a former U.S. Army post now managed jointly by the National Park Service and Presidio Trust.
There, he met with park officials for a presentation of the site’s history, conservation work, and its unique land‑use structure.
A spokesperson for the Presidio Trust noted that Burgum’s tour aligns with customary practice for a new interior secretary to familiarize himself with national parks in the field.
Burgum declined to take questions about the Alcatraz project during his Presidio visit.
San Francisco’s congressional delegation, including Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, slammed the Alcatraz proposal as “the Trump Administration’s stupidest initiative yet,” calling it a politically motivated stunt and impractical given the island’s deteriorating infrastructure.
Environmental and historic preservation laws, including those tied to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, must be reversed by Congress before any penitentiary conversion could proceed.
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