Donald Trump’s Scottish golf courses claimed nearly $4 million in British government aid in 2020 while he was serving as U.S. president, according to newly released financial filings.
Trump’s failing operations collected the COVID-19 relief during the pandemic, The Independent reported, even though the U.S. Constitution’s emoluments clause prohibits federal officials from accepting payments from foreign governments.
The payments were detailed in newly released accounts filed with the United Kingdom by Golf Recreation Scotland Ltd., the holding company that owns both golf courses.
Trump Turnberry in Aryshire claimed some $3 million in COVID relief in 2020, according to the filings, and Trump International in Aberdeenshire reportedly collected some $600,000 in aid the same year.
Filings by the businesses in part blamed losses on Brexit — which Trump strongly supported — for disrupting supply chains. Despite the plush British subsidies, the businesses still slashed staff.
The former president’s son, Eric Trump, who was put in charge of the resorts after his father’s election, defended the foreign government handouts, saying in one of the filings that they were “helpful to retain as many jobs as possible.”
Nevertheless, he admitted, “uncertainty of the duration of support and the pandemic’s sustained impact meant that redundancies were required to prepare the business for the long term effects to the hospitality industry.”