Air Force use of Trump's Turnberry resort in Scotland dates back to Obama administration, crews have visited 40 times since 2015
US Air Force officials have reportedly been hosted by President Donald Trump's luxury hotel in Scotland, Turnberry resort, more than 40 times since 2015. According to an internal review by the Air Force, more than 40 stays have been recorded at the hotel which is located 20 miles from Glasgow Prestwick Airport in South Ayrshire.
The release of the figures comes after Politico reported about an Air National Guard crew that stayed at the resort which resulted in the internal Air Force review. Democrats have already launched an investigation into the military stays at the property, however, they are yet to receive any information from Pentagon as of now. Since 2015, the service has lodged crews in the area 659 times, 40 of them at Turnberry, but it's not clear how many happened since Trump became president.
However, the report observes that the Air Force has increased its overnight stops in Scotland under Trump. This is after signing a contract with the Prestwick Airport in the last years of the Obama Administration.
After the initial reports of crew being lodged at the resort surfaced, the Air Force said that refuelling stops at Prestwick and all related work and stay were very much under the Pentagon guidelines. It is Prestwick that books the lodgings for the Airforce crew and in a statement, they acknowledged that they had booked the crew often at Turnberry. Reportedly, officials also said that the cost of these lodgings was very much aligned with the government rate as crew were charged as low as $130.
While they are well within the guidelines, the Air Force did concede that crews staying at the President's luxury hotel may create a negative perception and it was then that the internal investigation was launched to assess "guidance associated with the use of civil airports and lodging selection for aircrew at en-route locations."
It must also be noted that Turnberry ran into a fourth successive year of multi-million-dollar losses in 2018, according to a report in Daily Mail. While the property may have charged the crew only $130, their regular charges were $422 for standard rooms and $2,314 for luxury suites.
On Friday, the Scottish government refused to rule in favor of selling the airport to the US after it came to light that the majority of its income was made from American military flights. A US military aircraft refuelling deal with Glasgow Prestwick Airport has been put on hold despite it being lucrative. Tweeting about this, Trump said, "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 (sic)"