“You can check out any time you like, but
you can never leave”
(Eagles: HOTEL CALIFORNIA)
What
matters most to these six: Name, Fame, and Fortune
(And, they
have the scandals to prove it)
Trump Empire, Inc - his latest Hotel/Resort “Scandal” (Scotland and USAF).
This recent scandal is packed with a lot of routine Trump lies
and denials as outlined in this very fine and detailed report:
WASHINGTON (NY Times) — Back in 2014, soon after acquiring a golf resort in
Scotland, Trump entered a partnership with a struggling local airport there to
increase air traffic and boost tourism in the region.
The next
year, Trump began running for president, the Pentagon decided to ramp up
its use of that same airport to refuel Air Force flights and gave the local
airport authority the job of helping to find accommodations for flight crews
who had to remain overnight.
Those two separate arrangements have now
intersected in ways that provide the latest evidence of how Mr. Trump’s
continued ownership of his business produces regular ethical questions.
Now Trump is
seeking to tamp down a growing controversy over a stay at the resort by
military personnel who were traveling through the airport in Scotland back in
March.
On Twitter (as usual) and then later speaking to
reporters at the White House, Trump said he was not involved in any decision to
put an Air Force flight crew at the resort, known as Trump Turnberry, saying:
“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.”
Documents
obtained from Scottish government agencies show that the Trump Organization,
and Trump himself, played a direct role in setting up an arrangement between
the Turnberry resort and officials at Glasgow Prestwick Airport.
The
government records, released through Scottish FOIA law, show that the Trump
organization starting in 2014 entered a partnership with the airport to try to
increase private and commercial air traffic to the region.
As part of that
arrangement, the Trump Organization worked to get Trump Turnberry added to a
list of hotels that the airport would routinely send aircrews to, even though
the Turnberry resort is 20 miles from the airport, farther away than many other
hotels, and has higher advertised prices.
Trump Organization executives held a series of
meetings with the airport officials to negotiate terms that would lead to more
referrals, the documents show.
Jules Matteoni, a manager at Glasgow
Prestwick Airport, wrote in June 2015 to executives at Trump Turnberry: “As
a list of hotels that we use for our business, being honest, Turnberry was
always last on the list, based on price. Yesterday’s proposal places Turnberry
in a favorable position and gives us food for thought in our placement of crews
moving forward.”
Trump visited
Glasgow Prestwick in 2014 and promised to help increase traffic at the airport,
although at the time he was largely referring to plans to drive corporate jets
there and attract other commercial traffic perhaps carrying golfers on the way
to his resort.
At that time Iain Cochrane, then the
chief executive of the airport, said re: Trump’s visit: “Forging
a new partnership between the airport and the Trump Organization will
undoubtedly be mutually beneficial.”
Both DOD and
executives at the airport have that the airport also has a separate arrangement
with the USAF.
Under that
arrangement, the Scottish airport not only refuels American military planes but
also helps arrange hotel accommodations for arriving crews, as it does for some
civilian and commercial aircraft.
The Prestwick Airport said in a statement
recently: “We provide a full handling
service for customers and routinely arrange overnight accommodation for
visiting aircrew when requested. We use over a dozen local hotels, including
Trump Turnberry; a small percentage of the total hotel bookings we make.”
It was
through the arrangement with the Pentagon that a seven-person USAF crew ended
up staying at the Trump Turnberry in March. An Air Force C-17 military
transport plane was on its way from Alaska to Kuwait when it stopped at
Prestwick overnight to refuel and give the crew a break. That crew consisted of
active duty and National Guard members from Alaska. They were charged $136 per
room/per night, which was less expensive than a Marriott property’s rate of
$161, plus both were under the DoD per diem rate of $166/day.
The Air Force said in a statement,
and a DOD official added one too: “A local agent on
contract with the U.S. government assisted with the reservations and indicated
that there wasn’t a room available closer to Prestwick airport.”
DOD then added: “Yes
— the Air Force relies on a contracted representative at the Prestwick airport
to support our aircrew needs.”
The number of such stops by Air Force planes at
Prestwick rose from 180 in 2017 to 257 last year and 259 so far this year.
The 259 stops this year included 220 overnight stays.
Since October 2017, records show 917 payments for
expenses including fuel at the airport worth a total of $17.2 million.
Air Force
officials could not say how many times military crews had been sent to Trump
Turnberry, but added that they are now going through vouchers to come up with
such a count.
Lt. Gen. Jon Thomas, the deputy
commander of the Air Force Air Mobility Command (MAC), said in an interview that: “[…] the rising number of military stopovers at
Prestwick was entirely based on operational demands, as the airport is in a
convenient location, has 24-hour operations and offers ample aircraft parking,
among other advantages, adding the Air Force has been using Prestwick since the
late 1990’s.”
But he also agreed
that the decision to place Air Force crew members at a hotel owned by Trump’s
family had created questions that the DOD needed to address, and as a result,
the Air Force is now reviewing policies on where crews are put up in hotels
during international trips.
Gen. Thomas further said: “Let’s
make sure we are considering potential for misperception that could be created
by where we billet the aircrews. It is reasonable for us to ask and make sure
we are being sensitive to misperceptions that could be formed by the American
people or Congress or anyone else.”
Trump disputed that there were any legitimate
questions about the stay by the Air Force crew, suggesting that he was so
wealthy that the business was inconsequential to him, saying in true Trump style: “I
don’t need to have somebody take a room overnight at a hotel.”
Trump dismissed
suggestions that he also was profiting when VP Pence recently spent two nights
at the Trump family’s golf resort in Doonbeg, Ireland, rejecting questions as unfounded saying: “So what is happening is the following: Every
time you find a person landing in an airplane within 500 miles of something I
own, Mike Pence, as an example, his family lives in Doonbeg, Ireland.”
My 2 cents: Simple, direct, and I believe in
line with the vast majority of Americans who have come to figure out Trump for
what he is: A 100% totally skilled, experienced, and savvy con artist.”
And, he has been his whole life. This case simply
underscores how horrible a person he truly is.
Thanks for stopping by.
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