On Thursday, the internet blew up over a report on Politico regarding military stays at one of Trump’s properties.
While several House committees are digging into Trump over possible Emoluments Clause violations, the publications reported Trump’s Scotland property was benefitting from overnight stays from U.S. Air Force crews.
House Oversight Investigation
The details of the Air Force stays at Trump’s property in Turnberry came into the spotlight due to a House Oversight investigation.
The Democrat-controlled House is doing everything it can to find a thread to pull on, but it is still coming up empty.
When the Air Force crew stays at Turnberry were revealed, however, several news publications, including Politico, jumped all over the story.
The overall reporting in the story was solid, but the headline was clearly created to have a negative impact on this administration.
Politico’s headline read: “Air Force says it sent crews to Trump’s Scottish resort up to 40 times.”
To say the headline is clickbait is an understatement at best.
To say it is misleading is an absolute bullseye, though, because nothing shady was going on here at all and the percentage of stays by these crews, which were all approved, was minimal in the overall picture.
The Facts
The headline served its purpose and created quite a buzz and surely generated a significant amount of clicks for Politico, but readers were surely disappointed.
Rather than being proof that Trump had violated the Emoluments Clause, it made the House look foolish for going down this road as well as Politico for creating the “buzz” after reporting on an Air National Guard crew staying at Turnberry previously.
As it turns out, the agreement in place that even allows crews to stay at the Trump property was signed and put in place during the Obama administration.
After the reports came out, the Air Force stated, “We reviewed the vast majority of the 659 overnight stays of Air Force crews in the vicinity at Glasgow Prestwick Airport between 2015 and 2019.
“Approximately six percent of those crews stayed at the Trump Turnberry.
“As a practice, we generally send aircrews to the closest, most suitable accommodations within the government hotel rate.
“The review also indicated that about 75 percent of the crews stayed in the immediate vicinity of the airfield and 18 percent stayed in Glasgow.”
While Turnberry rack rates for standard rooms are roughly $400 per night, the government rate was typically around $130 per night.
Trump also stated via Twitter, “I know nothing about an Air Force plane landing at an airport (which I do not own and have nothing to do with) near Turnberry Resort (which I do own) in Scotland, and filling up with fuel, with the crew staying overnight at Turnberry (they have good taste!). NOTHING TO DO WITH ME.”
The fact of the matter is the government regularly did business with Trump properties long before Donald Trump ever became president.
While he has stepped away from the organization and turned it over to his sons to operate, the company is still in business, so these contracts will continue to go about with business as usual.
Nothing illegal is happening here and it surely is NOT an Emoluments Clause violation, contrary to the wishes of the liberal media AND House Committees.
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