Thread by @MartynMcL

EXCL: Donald Trump's Turnberry hotel was paid nearly £25,000 by the Secret Service for business trips by Eric Trump & his wife, incl a private golf excursion with 30 'international guests'. The resort has received circa £300,000 from US taxpayers. Thread👇🏻 scotsman.com/news/politics/…

These trips included a golfing tour of Trump’s Scottish courses by his son, Eric, and dozens of Trump Organisation customers, who flew in via private jet as part of an upmarket golfing excursion marketed by the Trump Org as the ‘Ultimate Links Tour’.

They also include a stay at Turnberry by Eric and his wife, Lara, to attend a ribbon cutting ceremony at one of the resort's refurbished courses. They were joined at the ceremony an actor dressed up as a 14th century Scottish monarch (with big sword). Pic: Jeff J Mitchell / Getty

This story is based on a dump of documents I was sent this week in a ZIP file by the US Secret Service, more than three years and three months after I filed requests about expenditure at Trump’s Scottish firms under US FOIA legislation. Better late than never and all that.

My story details four trips made to Scotland by Eric Trump, all of which were specifically to attend to Trump Org business. For that, the Secret Service paid Trump’s companies $32,472 (£24,180) to accommodate its agents, but the overall bill to US taxpayers was $62,960 (£46,880).

Here’s an example of the disclosed records. This one covers Eric & Lara Trump’s Turnberry trip. You’ll see that Donald Trump’s resort received $8,872 (£6,610) from the US public purse to pay for his son & daughter-in-law’s protection while attending to private Trump Org business.

Based on my ongoing analysis of the amount of money received by Trump’s Scottish firms from the Secret Service, State Department, and Pentagon, the total now stands at around £300,000. I can't emphasise enough - this is a running total of payments that are *known about*

This is just the latest example of the blurred line between Trump's public office & private business. Jordan Libowitz, comms director for @CREWcrew, told me the Trump Org should reimburse the US government for the taxpayer funds expended during these private business trips.

.@AREvers, a former senior counsel to the State Dept, who is now executive director at @weareoversight, told me: "An ethical president would have taken steps to guarantee that there was no chance for taxpayer money to wind up in his own pocket."

Kedric Payne, senior counsel at @CampaignLegal, told me: “If Trump ... divested his business interests, these expenses would not be an issue. This blatant use of taxpayers funds to subsidise his hotel exploits flaws in the law that the Biden administration should correct.”

I asked the Trump Organisation and Trump Turnberry two straightforward questions about the room rates it charged the US Secret Service for all these visits. Neither company responded. This is the email I sent earlier this week.

When Trump leaves office next month, his adult children will no longer be eligible for Secret Service protection, but under the Former Presidents Act, Trump himself is. So if he flies to his resorts in Scotland - or anywhere, in fact - US taxpayers will continue to foot the bill.

I thought Trump stories would start to dry up after his election defeat. The opposite's true. If you want to help track how US taxpayers are paying for his post-presidential life, please support my reporting & subscribe to @TheScotsman bit.ly/3cZaoC2 Thanks for reading!