Earlier this year, an Air National Guard crew made a routine trip from the U.S. to Kuwait to deliver supplies. What wasn’t routine was where the crew stopped along the way-- Donald Trump’s Turnberry resort, about 50 miles outside Glasgow, Scotland.
As a result, the House Oversight Committee has been investigating why the crew on the C-17 military transport plane made the unusual stay (both en route to the Middle East and on the way back) at the luxury waterside resort/ However, the committee has yet to receive any answers from the Pentagon.
The inquiry is part of a broader probe into U.S. military expenditures at and around the Trump property in Scotland. According to a letter the panel sent to the Pentagon in June, the military has spent $11 million on fuel at the Prestwick Airport (the airport nearest to Trump Turnberry) since October 2017-- fuel that would have been cheaper if purchased at a U.S. military base (as is the normal practice). The letter also cites a Guardian report that the airport provided cut-rate rooms and free rounds of golf at Turnberry for U.S. military members. The report also cited Defense Logistics Agency records showing 629 fuel purchase orders worth $11m since October 2017.
Taken together, the incidents raise the possibility that the military has helped keep Trump’s Turnberry resort afloat — the property lost $4.5 million in 2017, but revenue unexpectedly went up $3 million in 2018.
“The Defense Department has not produced a single document in this investigation,” said a senior Democratic aide on the oversight panel. “The committee will be forced to consider alternative steps if the Pentagon does not begin complying voluntarily in the coming days.”
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