Tweet

Martyn McLaughlin

19 Jan, 12 tweets, 5 min read

It's been a wild four years covering Trump. Now seems a good time for a thread on some of my stories.

First up, how Trump repeatedly tried & failed to convince a Scottish bank to lend him £38m for a failed hotel venture, while claiming he had £1bn in cash scotsman.com/news/politics/…

2/ How Trump's Turnberry resort was paid £52,000+ by the US government as he made a private visit to play multiple rounds of golf, and watch World Cup football matches in his room:

scotsman.com/news/politics/…

3/ Wealthy Russian & US clients couldn't save Trump's Scottish helicopter charter firm. Pilots had to cover up the aircraft's TRUMP signage as his brand grew increasingly toxic. The venture was eventually liquidated, with the chopper shipped to the US

scotsman.com/news/uk-news/d…

4/ After a three year battle to get a disclosure to my FOIA requests, I eventually got hold of Secret Service documents detailing the £25k+ bill for protecting Trump's son and daughter in law on their sojourns to his Scottish resorts.
scotsman.com/news/politics/…

5/ How Trump’s Turnberry firm is paying £100 a month to a UK government body to lease buildings at its world famous lighthouse, while charging guests £1,400 a night to stay at its gold and marble encrusted luxury suite.
scotsman.com/news/uk-news/u…

6/ An analysis from November on how Trump's private firms have benefited from his public office, with his Scottish corporations receiving approx a quarter of a million pounds from US taxpayers (two months on, the figure is now £300k+ and rising).
scotsman.com/news/politics/…

7/ How state-owned Prestwick Airport waived service fees for inbound US military aircraft as part of an alleged practice designed to increase traffic. The Pentagon has paid Trump Turnberry at least £150k to billet personnel on stopovers at the airport.
scotsman.com/news/uk-news/p…

8/ I got hold of documents prepared by Trump's lawyers as part of an obscure legal dispute. They forensically detailed a drastic downturn in visitors and members at his flagship international property since he took up office.
scotsman.com/news/politics/…

9/ I found out about the Trump Org's unannounced plans for a major expansion of Turnberry with a Florida style "coastal retreat," part of its ongoing major investment push in Scotland, despite having run up £50m+ in losses and £150m+ in debts.
scotsman.com/news/uk-news/r…

10/ How Woody Johnson, the billionaire US ambassador to the UK, and owner of the New York Jets, ran up a bill to US taxpayers totalling more than £1,000 in a single day while staying at Trump’s Turnberry property.
scotsman.com/news/politics/…

11/ My undercover report on a senior Trump Org executive's talk at an evangelical church, discussing the Trump family's frustration at being unable to pursue "foreign investment" deals while its patriarch held the office of POTUS.
scotsman.com/news/uk-news/t…

12/ And to bookend things, my column in tomorrow's paper on the end of Trump (spoiler: an end to the symptom, not the cause).

Thanks for reading, there'll be more to come, and if you have tips or info you think I ought to know about, my DMs are open.
scotsman.com/news/opinion/c…

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

More from @MartynMcL

Martyn McLaughlin

@MartynMcL

21 Jan

@OfficeGovEthics

NEW: Before he left office, Trump filed his final financial disclosures with @OfficeGovEthics. I’ve had a read through them. The income he is claiming in respect of his Scottish resorts is entirely divorced from the reality set out in black in white in his UK accounts. Thread 👇

Firstly, Trump lists his income from ‘golf related revenue’ at Turnberry as $9.8m. Which is interesting, given the latest UK accounts for Turnberry's parent company registered losses of £2.3m ($3.1m) for the 12 months to 31 Dec 2019.

Even the turnover in the UK accounts - listed as £19.6m ($26.8m) is a country mile off that income figure listed in Trump's OGE filings. Comparing like for like, even accounting for that weird 'golf related revenue' descriptor, it's not even close.

Read 17 tweets

Martyn McLaughlin

@MartynMcL

5 Dec 20

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

Read 13 tweets

Martyn McLaughlin

@MartynMcL

12 Nov 20

Thread: there's been interesting discussion in the Scottish Parliament this afternoon about the use of Unexplained Wealth Orders to investigate Donald Trump's deals to acquire his Scottish properties and ascertain the sources of the financing 1/

@patrickharvie

.@patrickharvie said there is a need to "protect Scotland's good name from association with the toxic Trump brand" and highlighted "serious and long-standing concerns about Trump's business activities," both in Scotland and further afield 2/

Those concerns, he said, include evidence to Congress citing patterns of buying and selling thought suggestive of money laundering, and which drew particular attention to the golf courses in Scotland and Ireland. 3/

Read 12 tweets

Martyn McLaughlin

@MartynMcL

1 Nov 20

The prominent anti-lockdown projection & URL, caught my eye. So I thought I’d have a wee shifty. The campaign is run by a firm called Restore the Balance. One of its directors, Jonathan Dobinson, is director of a company called World4Brexit. Here’s where it gets interesting 1/2

A lobbying firm by the same name, World4Brexit, was promoted by Nigel Farage last year. It launched in NY, attended by prominent Trump supporters, including Corey Lewandowski, the former Trump campaign manager.

So who’s funding a high profile anti Covid-19 lockdown campaign with the resources to project its message in parliament, and which features prominently on tomorrow’s front page of one the UK’s bestselling newspapers?

Read 4 tweets

Martyn McLaughlin

@MartynMcL

7 Oct 20

@TheScotsman

EXCL: Woody Johnson, the billionaire US ambassador to the UK, spent more than £1,000 on golf and dinner in a single day during a three-night stay at Donald Trump’s Scottish resort - and American taxpayers picked up the bill. My @TheScotsman story: scotsman.com/news/politics/…

If you're unaware of the ties between Trump and his extraordinarily wealthy ambassador to the UK, here's an accompanying article detailing their longstanding social connections. It includes a wig-themed birthday party. Forewarned is forearmed etc. scotsman.com/news/politics/…

Folk in the US may not be aware how Trump's Turnberry resort has discovered a rich new seam of revenue during his presidency. So here's a recap of how his flagship Scottish property is reaping plenty of US taxpayer dollars - while still running at a loss: scotsman.com/news/politics/…

Read 16 tweets

Martyn McLaughlin

@MartynMcL

1 Oct 20

@AlisonJohnstone

At #FMQs, @AlisonJohnstone raises the closure of a @EdinburghUni Covid-19 testing lab - as revealed in today's @TheScotsman👇- saying that the decision to deploy testing to the full is a @scotgov policy choice which contradicts @WHO guidance.

scotsman.com/news/politics/…

@NicolaSturgeon

.@NicolaSturgeon says the lab was never designed as a "permanent provision," and that the @scotgov is developing regional hubs to provide long-term capacity. (NB - is developing, not *has developed*)

@AlisonJohnstone

.@AlisonJohnstone says the @scotgov strategy is outdated, and says Scottish universities are falling behind when it comes to testing. FM replies that testing strategy is subject to constant review.

Read 4 tweets

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!