As Trump Visits His Scottish Golf Course, a Mystery Remains
Trump’s business dealings in Scotland began in 2006, when he paid $16.6 million for a 1,400 acre parcel of land north of Aberdeen, where he completed the first of two proposed golf courses in 2012. In 2014, he bought Turnberry, an existing course located in southwestern Scotland, for $59 million. Trump sank millions more into developing both properties, but according to UK business records, he has consistently lost money on them. As Bloomberg reported, he has poured $200 million into the ventures and has yet to see a dime of profit.
Far from winning over Scots, Trump has made numerous enemies. His past visits to Scotland have drawn widespread protest. On this trip, Trump again will likely be met with protesters, and UK taxpayers are expected to pay $6.6 million to cover the cost of an additional 5,000 police officers needed to protect him during his weekend jaunt to Scotland, where he has no official events on his schedule. On Friday, ahead of his visit, the Scotsman, the Scottish daily newspaper, ran a full-page editorial denouncing Trump as “an appalling human being.”Broken promises and headline-grabbing controversies are standard for Trump, but the Scottish deals stand out because of the way he paid for them: all cash.
“He had incredible cash flow and built incredible wealth,” Eric Trump told the Washington Post recently when asked about a handful of cash purchases (including the Scottish courses, a Virginia winery, and a pair of Los Angeles mansions) made during the decade before he became president.
But in 2013 Eric Trump reportedly offered a different explanation for the large infusions of cash fueling the Trump Organization’s golf-course-buying spree, telling golf writer James Dodson, when Dodson wondered about the company’s source of funding, that his father had no need to borrow money from banks. “We have pretty much all the money we need from investors in Russia,” Trump’s son said, according to Dodson. (Eric Trump has denied Dodson’s account.) “We’ve got some guys that really, really love golf, and they’re really invested in our programs.”
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/07/as-trump-visits-his-scottish-golf-course-a-mystery-remains/
Money laundering, of course.
