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Martyn McLaughlin Profile picture
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25 Apr, 4 tweets, 2 min read
EXCL: Donald Trump’s golf resorts in Scotland and Ireland charged the US Secret Service more than £17,000 for a series of previously undisclosed trips during his first full year in office. My story in today's @scotonsunday

scotsman.com/news/politics/…
The Secret Service spending records were obtained via FoI by @weareoversight and passed to me. Austin Evers, the organisation's executive director, told me the Trumps continued to "line their pockets" with public money.
The glacial rate at which US FoI requests are expedited means will likely take years before the full extent of how Trump's private biz in Scotland charged the US government becomes clear. The bill at Turnberry alone already exceeds £300k.
I'll have another Trump story soon. In the meantime, my DMs are open if you have any tips. Thanks for reading, and to @weareoversight for its work.

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More from @MartynMcL

Martyn McLaughlin Profile picture
18 Apr
Here is my Insight longread for @scotonsunday on the implications of Greensill capital’s collapse for Sanjeev Gupta’s Scottish steel firms and, by extension, Scottish taxpayers. Thread👇scotsman.com/news/politics/…
The potential exposure to the public purse could be circa £575m, due to the SG’s 25 year guarantee to Gupta’s Lochaber subsidiary, which will see the govt buy power its hydro plant generates in the event its smelter shuts down.
The guarantee was approved after the govt enlisted EY to carry out due diligence But seven months *after* the deal was done, the govt hired Deloitte to give advice and flag up “key risks.". Deloitte is still retained on the SG payroll, at a cost to taxpayers of around £200k.
Read 6 tweets
Martyn McLaughlin Profile picture
4 Apr
EXCL: The UK Government has been accused of turning COP26 into a “greenwashing platform” after partnering with a firm condemned by environmental groups for sourcing palm oil products from businesses accused of widespread deforestation activities. Thread👇
scotsman.com/news/politics/…
Reckitt, the government’s latest ‘top tier’ sponsor of the upcoming COP26 climate change summit, may not be a familiar name, but it owns household brands like Dettol, Vanish and Nurofen. It uses more than 134,000 tonnes of palm oil products to make its goods every year.
Its suppliers include Wilmar International, the world’s largest palm oil trader, which has been implicated in deforestation activity and human rights abuses by groups including Amnesty International.
Read 13 tweets
Martyn McLaughlin Profile picture
4 Apr
EXCL: The SNP has been accused of spurning evidence-based policy after striking a £56m deal to renew its flagship baby box scheme two days before the pre-election recess - and before an independent evaluation of the initiative has been completed. Thread👇scotsman.com/news/politics/…
The baby box is a widely popular and inclusive policy, but it’s sold as more than a feel-good initiative. The problem is there’s no evidence of how it’s helping address child health, poverty, inequality, or engagement with hard to reach families.
The SNP continues to claim that the Finnish baby box model - the blueprint for the Scottish scheme - reduces infant mortality. There is not a fleck of evidence to support this claim.
Read 7 tweets
Martyn McLaughlin Profile picture
28 Mar
EXCL Children as young as 11 - under the age of criminal prosecution - are among 5,996 youngsters held overnight in police custody across Scotland since 2018. A leading children’s rights academic said children’s rights are being breached. Thread👇scotsman.com/news/politics/…
These figures emerged following a carefully tailored freedom of information request I sent to Police Scotland, seeking breakdowns by age / location of children being detained in police custody. The fact this info isn’t proactively or publicly published is a prob I’ll return to.
I found that 95 children aged 13 or under were among those held overnight in police custody. But the figure jumps to 827 among 14 and 15 year-olds, and even higher (5,074) among those aged 16 and 17.
Read 21 tweets
Martyn McLaughlin Profile picture
3 Feb
A short thread on an interesting day covering the Holyrood vote on Trump: I'm perhaps more interested than most in obtaining answers to Qs surrounding Trump's finances. I never thought they'd arrive via a legislature, whether in Scotland or the US. Today confirmed that.
The courts, whether via criminal or civil cases, is the likeliest avenue for transparency. The multiple cases involving Trump's firms may yet reveal that, but the progress is glacial.
After years of obfuscation and by the Scottish Govt, I thought @HumzaYousaf made a strong argument in his amendment and debate. It didn't adequately address the fact that a UWO is a civil power and an investigative tool, but the principle he set out is important.
Read 8 tweets
Martyn McLaughlin Profile picture
3 Feb
NEW: MSPs have rejected calls for the Scottish Government to go to court in order to investigate the source of financing for Donald Trump’s Scottish properties. scotsman.com/news/politics/…
The central argument which defeated the motion was that were ministers to go to court, it would constitute an abuse of power, and undermine the criminal justice system.
.@patrickharvie, who brought the motion, said an application for an UWO would not constitute a prosecution, but rather "asking for information" about Mr Trump's finances.
Read 6 tweets

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