President Trump’s Scottish golf resort raked in more than $77,000 in government money thanks to his visit there this past weekend, federal spending records showed.
US State Department documents, cited by Reuters and The Scotsman newspaper, showed that it paid $77,345.35 to Trump’s SLC Turnberry Ltd for “hotel rooms for VIP visit.”
The State Department regularly picks up the tab for overseas presidential trips.
The president stayed at his Trump Turnberry Scotland and played golf there on Saturday, in between his NATO meeting and summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Political watchdog and good-government groups have been critical of Trump for not establishing safeguards that’d prevent him from directly profiting off his work as president.
“This is part of a pattern with this president of really doing everything he can to disgrace the office of the presidency by promoting his own private business interests,” said Common Cause lawyer Stephen Spaulding.
Since winning the presidency in 2016, Trump and his daughter — White House adviser Ivanka Trump — have resigned from any formal roles at SLC Turnberry.
However, the SLC Turnberry’s parent company, Golf Recreation Scotland, remains wholly owned by Trump through his Donald J Trump Revocable Trust, the Scotsman reported.
“This is another example of President Trump using the power and authority of his office to profit personally. President Trump not only used the occasion of a state visit to promote his Trump-branded golf course, but told US taxpayers to foot the bill,” said Brendan Fischer, director of federal reform for Campaign Legal Center.
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