After House Democrats announced they would be investigating Donald Trump for possibly setting up an illegal arrangement for the US Military to refuel at an airport near his Turnberry Golf Resort in Scotland at a much higher price than was necessary for them to pay — to the tune of millions — many began calling it a matter of openly violating the emoluments clause of the Constitution, since it’s taking place in a foreign country.
In fact, as it became more of an issue in the news, investigators began finding more and more instances of US Military flights in and out of Prestwick Airport, the field in question, each with multiple refueling stops costing US taxpayers millions at a time.
As even amateur sleuths on the internet began to point out, there are multiple airport options in the area and almost every one of them offers fuel at a lower cost. But the plane fuel wasn’t the only thing being purchased: Service members were actually staying at the resort.
In one cost breakdown, the “permissible fee” for a single night’s stay at Turnberry was $160USD — that is to say, the lowest possible cost for a room with your AAA discount and your senior discount and whatever the travel site you’re booking through gives as a promotion. Within three miles of Turnberry, there are multiple hotels that charge $100USD or less as a standard rate with no discounts.
No matter how you look at it, there are receipts that look very bad for Donald Trump. So the logical thing for him to do, in order to avoid a lengthy investigation, would be to simply tell Congress that he personally wanted to stay at Turnberry during the trips in question and had no idea that using a nearby airport he was familiar with would be problematic.
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
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 9, 2019
Oh, okay. So we’re just pretending that he’s unfamiliar with the whole affair. That’s weird, because five years ago…
“Donald Trump pledges to make Prestwick Airport ‘really successful’”
http://t.co/JZ1dnBqwV1 via @STVNews— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 14, 2014
Literally the first two lines of that article:
The Trump Organisation has chosen Prestwick to service the nearby Trump Turnberry resort, in which the businessman plans to invest £250m.
The airport will be the Scottish base for all Trump Aviation Operations, including Mr Trump’s private Boeing 757 and Sikorsky 76B helicopter.”
That sure doesn’t sound like “have nothing to do with” to me. Perhaps Trump can hope beyond hope that Congressional investigators take a more charitable view, and don’t charge him with obstruction of justice, which today’s tweet qualifies for all by itself without any further investigation, even if it turned out Trump did nothing wrong regarding the military refueling there.
Featured image via screen capture
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