Turnberry prepares for ex-President Donal Trump today after he named second course at Menie Estate MacLeod after his mother as Scottish lawmakers ask how he was able to buy golf resorts: Comes judge dismisses call for mistrial in his NYC rape case
- Trump is currently on a two-day trip to Scotland to visit his two golf resorts there
- He is set to arrive at his world-famous Tunberry golf resort on Tuesday afternoon
Donald Trump is set to arrive at his Tunberry golf resort in Scotland today, having opened a new course on the country’s opposite coast yesterday which has been named after his late mother.
Cleaners and security were pictured this morning preparing the world-famous estate ahead of his arrival, which comes as Scottish lawmakers were called upon to revisit a probe into how he was able to purchase the resorts.
The calls come as Trump is facing mounting legal troubles at home, which have grown significantly since his last visit to Scotland in 2018 during his time as president – which saw a massive security breach.
His legal issues involve hush money payments to a porn star, as well as accusations of election interference and illegal retention of classified White House documents.
They also include an on-going New York City rape case, which on Monday saw Judge Lewis Kaplan dismiss a request from Trump’s lawyer Joe Tacopina to declare a mistrial based on ‘unfair and prejudicial rulings’.
While former columnist E. Jean Carroll has begun her testimony, the jury has yet to hear from two other women who accuse Mr Trump of sexual assault.
Donald Trump is set to arrive at his Tunberry golf resort in Scotland today, having opened a new course on the country’s opposite coast yesterday which has been named after his late mother. Pictured: Trump poses for a photograph as he cuts a ribbon on his new Aberdeenshire golf course along with his son Eric (right)
Pictured: Staff are seen preparing the Tunberry golf resort in Scotland ahead of Trump’s arrival
Trump, who is running for the Presidency in 2024, is on a two-day visit to Scotland where he opened a course at a second controversial golf resort in Aberdeenshire on Monday.
Trump landed in Aberdeen on Monday morning, saying ahead of his arrival on his Truth Social platform that he was visiting the country to cut the ribbon on the ‘spectacular’ but controversial second golf course.
Trump and his son Eric arrived on Trump Force Once – his private Boeing 757-200 – and were greeted by two pipers, a red carpet and a 10-vehicle motorcade.
Before getting into a waiting car said: ‘It’s great to be home, this was the home of my mother’.
Pictures later showed him at the Menie resort sporting a blue, woolen bobble had over his distinctive yellow mop – shovel in hand – as he broke ground on his new course – named the MacLeod course, after his mother Mary Anne MacLeod.
She was born on the Isle of Lewis in the Western Isles before emigrating to the US.
His arrival sparked Scottish politicians to urge the country’s new First Minister Humza Yousaf to look again at seeking a so-called ‘McMafia’ order to probe how Trump was able to buy the resorts in Aberdeenshire and Ayrshire.
Trump’s company purchased Tunberry in Ayrshire in 2014 from a Dubai-based company for an undisclosed fee. Despite still being in the development phase, he purchased the Menie, Aberdeenshire resort back in 2006.
The Scottish government decided not to pursue an Unexplained Wealth Order in relation to the purchase of the two resorts in 2021.
Yousaf, Scotland’s justice secretary at the time, told the country’s parliament at the time that it would be an abuse of power to launch such a probe.
According to The Herald, Trump – who in most other projects he bankrolls takes out large loans in order to finance them – instead spent more than £300 million in cash.
Neither of his two Scottish clubs turn a profit, the newspaper reports.
Trump’s son Eric criticized Green co-leader Patrick Harvie for bringing the issue of a so-called McMafia order to debate at the Scottish Parliament, saying at the time Mr Harvie was a ‘national embarrassment’. Mr Harvie told Holyrood there were ‘longstanding’ reasons for concerns over Mr Trump’s financial conduct.
Now, the Scottish Liberal Democrats are calling on the investigation to look again at the purchases.
Liam McArthur, the Liberal Democrat justice spokesperson, said: ‘Donald Trump’s previous visits have cost us millions in policing costs. They were the most expensive rounds of golf in history.
‘The Scottish Government have refused to probe the finances involved in Donald Trump’s purchase of the Turnberry golf course.
‘The new First Minister should consider whether to revisit that decision.’
Yousaf has made it clear he is no fan on Trump’s. Asked last week if he will meet Trump, who has made controversial statements about Muslims in the past, Yousaf said: ‘I would find it difficult, I have to say, to meet with him without raising the significance of concerns I have of the remarks that he’s made in the past.’
Pictured: Trump is seen in a bobble hat on his new golf course in Scotland
Pictured: Trump is greeted by staff at his Aberdeenshire golf resort, May 1
Pictured: President Donald Trump (right) visits Trump International, Scotland during a trip with his son Eric Trump (second left) and guests, May 1
Pictured: Trump inspects plans for a golf course during a visit to Scotland, May 1
Pictures and video from his Menie resort – officially called Trump International Golf Links, Scotland – on Monday showed typical American fanfare associated with Trump’s public appearance, with a Scottish twist.
His motorcade was seen arriving outside the main stone clubhouse as staffers lined up waving American flags as bagpipes played classics such as Journey’s ‘Don’t Stop Believing’ and Survivor’s ‘Eye Of The Tiger’.
Red, white and blue flares were launched into the air.
He later ditched the suit and was photographed out on the course in a bobble hat, shovel in hand, where he cut a red ribbon and broke ground on the new course.
Trump said: ‘We are going to build a great golf course that aims to replicate the outstanding championship links we already have here and many believe to be the greatest golf course in the world.
‘We will build a course that will be fit to host many great championships in the future along with our championship links.
‘We’ve had a lot of pleasure in working on this land and there is no other land like it. We have incredible views by the sea and there are no other dunes like these in the world. It will be a great success.
‘This project is very close to my heart and I am delighted to say that this is our first day of work on the new course.
‘It will be dedicated to my late mother and that is a source of great pride to me and my family. My mother was an incredible woman who loved Scotland.
‘She returned here every year and she loved The Queen. I got to know The Queen too during my visits here I love Scotland just as much.’
But the Menie course – and the construction of 550 homes on the estate – has not been popular among some of the locals in the northeastern Scottish region.
Developments to the estate, called the Trump International Golf Links, is set to also include a town hall and a public square – and is being developed with the intention of being able to host international tournaments.
When Aberdeenshire council planners approved the new project back in 2020, it provoked a furious backlash from conservationists who said it could have a catastrophic impact on the area’s environment.
His first course on the Menie estate, built in 2012, has been blamed for damaging sand dunes at a site of special scientific interest (SSSI).
As a result, conservationists urged Aberdeenshire council to deny permission for the second course to be built.
Their warnings were ignored, arguing at the time that the new course ‘will contribute towards the significant social and economic benefits expected to be delivered by the wider development proposals within the Menie estate.’
Trump’s last visit in 2018 – when he was president – prompted angry protests across Scotland. Thousands took to the streets of Edinburgh while he played golf at his Turnberry resort, where demonstrators also gathered.
About 50 protesters gathered on the beach near the resort, waving banners targeting him including ‘no Trump, no racist USA’.
Another – displayed by Scottish comedian Janey Godley – read ‘Trump is a c***’. A photo was widely shared at the time of her high-fiving a Scottish police officer while holding the sign on the nearby beach.
Ahead of Trump’s visit to Tunberry today, she joked on Twitter: ‘Do we known when he is coming to Turnberry? I want to say hello’.
Meanwhile, Trump is embroiled in an ongoing civil battery trial taking place in a Manhatten courtroom 3,000 miles away.
Outside court his lawyers were heckled by supporters of his accuser E. Jean Carroll who waved signs at them saying: ‘Trump is a sexual predator’.
Mr Trump’s decision to fly to Scotland all but means he will not attend the case, which was brought by 79-year-old Ms Carroll, an advice columnist.
Trump disembarks his plane ‘Trump Force One’ at Aberdeen Airport on May 1
Pictured: Trump Force One is seen having arrived in Aberdeenshire on May 1
Pictured: Former advice columnist E. Jean Carroll leaves Manhattan federal court, May 1
She alleges that Mr Trump raped her in the changing room of the Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan in the mid-1990s, an claim he strongly denies.
He is also facing charges of falsifying business records related to his $130,000 hush money payment to the porn star Stormy Daniels in the days before the 2016 election,
Prosecutors in Georgia have said that they will decide this summer whether to charge Mr Trump with interfering in the 2020 election in the state.
In addition, a special counsel is looking into whether Mr Trump illegally retained classified documents after leaving the White House.
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