Democrats over the weekend seized on reports that members of the Air Force stayed at a Trump resort while flying to Kuwait back in March of this year:
POLITICO – In early Spring of 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: President Donald Trump’s Turnberry resort, about 50 miles outside Glasgow, Scotland.
Since April, 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, according to several people familiar with the incident. But they have yet to receive any answers from the Pentagon.
The inquiry is part of a broader, previously unreported 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 closest airport to Trump Turnberry — since October 2017, fuel that would be cheaper if purchased at a U.S. military base. 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.
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 went up $3 million in 2018.
The President is corrupt and must be impeached. https://t.co/L4fS2pExDe
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) September 7, 2019
This is insanely corrupt!
There is so much of it since he has taken office that we don’t need Muller report for impeachment. https://t.co/HxAFRlz3mw
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) September 7, 2019
The Squad apparently doesn’t need an investigation. They demand impeachment now!
The Air Force responded to the report with this statement:
“As our aircrews serve on these international airlift missions, they follow strict guidelines on contracting for hotel accommodations and all expenditures of taxpayer dollars,” Brig Gen Edward Thomas wrote. “In this case, they made reservations through the Defense Travel System and used the closest available and least expensive accommodations to the airfield within the crews’ allowable hotel rates.”
Trump has just tweeted this morning that this AF stop and a different one by VP Mike Pence has nothing to do with him:
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
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 9, 2019
I had nothing to do with the decision of our great @VP Mike Pence to stay overnight at one of the Trump owned resorts in Doonbeg, Ireland. Mike’s family has lived in Doonbeg for many years, and he thought that during his very busy European visit, he would stop and see his family!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 9, 2019
I seriously doubt that there’s a conspiracy going on here to make Trump rich via Air Force stay overs at Trump resorts. But at the same time, it’s not unreasonable for House Oversight to want to look into this to ensure everything is on the up and up.
But it must also be stated that these Democrats, who’ve made it their mission to find any dirt they can on Trump to use against him in 2020, can’t be trusted to objectively look into this, as they will twist, spin, and even invent corruption where there is none.
So I would say if House Democrats intend to investigate this, then Senate Republicans should as well in an effort to hold them accountable. Because otherwise I don’t think the American people will trust anything Democrats have to say on this.