Chair of the Oversight and Reform Committee Elijah Cummings (D-MD) and Oversight Committee Subcommittee chair Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD) just sent a letter to Defense Secretary Mark Esper. They want additional information from the Pentagon to explain the Trump resort spending link. Their letter included a line item for taxpayers shelling out the cost of over 650 rooms:
‘The data provided by the Department now indicates that U.S. taxpayer funds have been used to pay for more than three dozen separate stays involving hundreds of nights of rooms — all after the president was sworn into office.’
The committee found documents indicating the U.S. Air Force spent $184,000 at the Trump resort near Glasgow, Scotland since late summer in 2017. This was the third letter requesting the same information from the Department of Defense (DOD).
The lawmakers said that they could not even answer “basic questions, such as how many military personnel were involved and who authorized their stays.”
The legislators wrote:
‘To date, the Department has produced only 21 pages of material — half of which appear to be publicly available on government websites. The Department failed to produce any underlying invoices or travel records relating to spending at Trump Turnberry or Prestwick Airport.’
For some reason, the two committee members have given the Trump administration time after time to produce the data. Finally, the legislators threatened a subpoena if the information should not be produced by a deadline of September 27.
The committee started its investigation into the Air Force’s unusual spending at the private Trump Turnberry golf resort. One Air National Guard crew . in particular came to the committee’s attention. It stopped at a failing Prestwick Airport the president was trying to bolster with business refueling on the way to Kuwait.
The president needed that airport to keep direct access to his resort. The property had also been suffering until the crew members began staying there. Trump admitted that the U.S. military was the resort’s biggest client by far, even though his lodging was further than less expensive places.
From January 20, 2017 until June 21, 2019, the military ran up $16 million for refueling. The Pentagon pointed toward its guidelines that approved the Prestwick stops. If the military had stopped at a military base, the cost would have been less expensive.
The committee started its investigation in April. Then, when it found out that the military had roomed its crews at Turnberry “up to 40 times since 2015,” the House’s investigation picked up steam.
However, that information did not take into account that there were a number of two-night stays or longer. The documents that the Oversight Committee does have do not give the length of stays since the president came into office. There were some refueling stops there per President Barack Obama.
The problem with the military staying at the president’s properties has been that this breaks the U.S. Constitution’s Emoluments Clause. However, this was only a slice of Trump using his presidency to increase the value of his brand.
When Vice President Mike Pence stayed at the Trump International Golf Links and Hotel in Doonberg, Ireland rather than in Dublin, the depth of the story started shaking loose. The issue was that the president’s property was 182 miles from those meetings. Trump told him to commute.
Senate Democrats introduced the Heightened Oversight of Travel, Eating and Lodging Act, bill. It would effectively halt federal officials from spending taxpayer dollars at any presidential property or that belonging to a vice president or Cabinet members. However, the legislation was almost redundant, given the Emoluments Clause.
The Mueller Report Adventures: In Bite-Sizes on this Facebook page. These quick, two-minute reads interpret the report in normal English for busy people. Mueller Bite-Sizes uncovers what is essentially a compelling spy mystery. Interestingly enough, Mueller Bite-Sizes can be read in any order.
