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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsScottish government dragged into USAF scandal.
A powerful committee in the US Congress has launched an inquiry into spending by the US Defence Department at the Scottish Government owned Prestwick Airport amid concerns of "serious conflicts of interest" and potential violations over military custom at the loss making hub and President Donald Trump's nearby Turnberry resort.
The House Oversight and Reform Committee said US military spending at the publicly owned South Ayrshire airport had "increased substantially" since Trump came to office, and points out that the airport is "integral" to Turnberry's financial success.
Its comes after a recent Scotsman investigation detailed how Prestwick's parent company has received more than £9.02m for 644 orders to refuel US Armed Forces aircraft between October 2017 and March this year.
The deal with the US Defence Logistics Agency (DLA), which manages the global supply chain for the US Army, Air Force, and Navy, is by far the airport's single biggest revenue stream.
Patrick Harvie MSP, co leader of the Scottish Greens, has accused the Scottish Government of "propping up Donald Trump's militaristic agenda" given the airport's extensive US military custom.
However, the spending has also raised questions over whether Trump's golf resort and hotel is benefiting from the flurry of US military activity in the area.
It emerged yesterday that an Air National Guard crew who stopped over at Prestwick on a C-17 military transport plane while en route to Kuwait stayed at Trump's loss making flagship Scottish resort.
https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/congress-probe-as-us-military-spending-increase-at-prestwick-airport-linked-to-trump-turnberry-1-4999593
notdarkyet
(2,226 posts)More money for golf and make him pay all of his grifts back to the us. No 30 thousand party for Barr at that hotel. He should try the holiday inn.
OnDoutside
(19,945 posts)DFW
(54,268 posts)Dick Cheney and Donald Trump have seen the White House as basically a self-service candy store of money, to be raided at their whim, and to their hearts' content. Even Moscow Mitch McConnell has been more subtle about using his elected position to enrich himself, and that is saying something.
And the Republicans cheer them on as heroes. It's like the prisoners cheering their own firing squad.
Stuart G
(38,403 posts)Timmygoat
(779 posts)With refueling at any of the US bases in the UK?
RandySF
(58,428 posts)JI7
(89,237 posts)i feel like something done there might have a better chance of coming out in public .
Vinca
(50,236 posts)bases, it stinks to high heaven the airport serving Trump's golf course is suddenly in the money. I'll give Trump credit for creatively stealing our tax dollars on this one. It would never have occurred to me.