It has just been reported minutes ago by Politico, and then other media sources, that Congress’ House Oversight and Reform Committee is investigating an odd stop by a C-17 Air National Guard transport plane for refueling at the small Prestwick Airport near the famous Scottish golf course resort now called Trump Turnberry, located fifty miles from Glasgow. It happened in early spring this year. The C-17 crew had made a routine trip to Kuwait to deliver supplies and was returning to the U.S. The refueling stop and overnight costs for the crew to stay at Trump Turnberry was $11 million. It appears unreasonable financially and being out-of-the-way for the Guard to do this.
U.S. President Donald Trump purchased this golf course (three courses) and hotel property located at Firth of Clyde in Ayrshire, South Scotland, formerly known at Turnberry, in 2014 for $60 million. The Trump Organization reportedly spent $200 million renovating the championship course. That is a huge expense in golf course renovation. Since 1977, Turnberry has hosted the British Open–one of the four major golf championships in the world–four times.
It is public knowledge that Trump Turnberry is under severe financial stress. The Scottish government is considering closing the small, debt-ridden Prestwick Airport near Trump Turnberry due to little business at the airport. If that were to happen, it is believed it would drastically and adversely affect business at Trump Turnberry.
The House Oversight and Reform Committee is chaired by Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD). President Trump has been feuding with him in public. Cummings is one of over 135 Democratic members of Congress who are now calling for impeachment of this president. Cumming’s Committee is investigating whether or not Trump, while he has been president, has been in violation of the emoluments clause in the Constitution. Moreover, the Pentagon has been stonewalling the Committee on supplying information about the incident.
The Constitution has two clauses about this: foreign and domestic. The foreign states: ““[N]o Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under [the United States], shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.” The domestic clause has this language, that “the president . . . shall not receive within that Period [he is president] any other Emolument from the United States” other than his salary. The point is that no federal government official, thus including the president, may accept any money or something of value. For Trump to be president, he had to relinquish control of this businesses to his children because of this emolument clause.
One item the Committee is investigating is that Vice President Mike Pence visited Dublin, Ireland, last week on an official trip and, supposedly at Trump’s suggestion, stayed at Trump International Golf Links and Hotel at Doonbeg, Ireland, and commuted back and forth, 180 miles away.
The annual G-7 meeting is scheduled next year to be held in the U.S. Days ago at the G-7 meeting, President Trump announced that we wanted next year’s meeting to be held at his Trump National Doral Miami property in Miami. This property has also been suffering exceedingly from a downturn in occupancy. I’ve blogged about this before and about how I used to love to play in the PGA Tour’s Doral Open there.
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