U.S. Taxpayers Paid Almost $70,000 For Donald Trump’s Two-Night Stay In Scotland

During his U.K. visit, President Donald Trump stayed at his Turnberry golf resort in Scotland. The  State Department paid for Trump and his staffers to lodge at the resort at a cost to taxpayers of  $68,000 for their two-night stay, The Scotsman reported on Wednesday.

Trump was joined by his son Eric Trump and several high-ranking officials, including John Kelly, his White House chief of staff, Sarah Sanders, his press secretary and Dan Scavino, his director of social media.

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The company behind the hotel and golf course is SLC Turnberry. Trump resigned as a director of the company after taking office. However, SLC Turnberry’s parent xompany, the Golf Recreation Scotland, remains wholly owned by Trump through the Donald J Trump Revocable Trust.

Brendan Fischer, director of federal reform at the Campaign Legal Center, a Washington D.C.-based non-partisan political watchdog, told The Scotsman, “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 U.S. taxpayers to foot the bill.”

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Scottish National Party’s foreign affairs spokesman, Stephen Gethins, said, “Not for the first time Donald Trump has serious questions to answer over the conflation of his business interests with his role as president. More worryingly for people in Scotland is the huge multi-million pound cost of Donald Trump’s unwelcome visit, which will be covered at the expense of U.K. taxpayers, The Scotsman reported.

Eric Trump defended the decision to stay at the resort, tweeting, “Much more would be spent if they stayed elsewhere.”