President Donald Trump took off for Scotland on Friday for his latest presidential trip mixing business and golf.
Trump plans to visit his two golf properties in Scotland: First, he’s golfing this weekend at Trump Turnberry, before heading to Trump International Scotland in Aberdeenshire, where he’ll participate in a dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremony for the opening of a second 18-hole golf course on his property.
While the White House calls it a “working visit” — Trump will meet with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen — the trip is the president’s latest example of using the trappings of the White House to promote and enrich his businesses while in office.
In his first term, Democrats cried foul at Trump’s Washington, DC, hotel, which became a popular destination for foreign delegations to spend money. The blowback was strong enough that in 2019, Trump scrapped the idea of hosting a G7 meeting at his Doral, Florida, resort.
But in his second term, Trump has shown a greater willingness to openly accept gifts from foreigners and foreign governments alike. And to find ways to profit.
The president has already made millions from his family’s cryptocurrency ventures, foreign investments, private clubs and the sale of a host of Trump-branded products, according to his latest financial disclosure documents.
Trump made more than $1.3 million from Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA” Bible, $2.5 million from Trump sneakers and fragrances, $2.8 million selling “Trump Watches,” and more than $1 million on a “45” guitar, a popular moniker referring to his first term as the 45th president.
And then there’s Trump Mobile, a wireless service with monthly plans and a $499 smartphone.
His companies continue to ink foreign deals. CNN reported in May that the Trump family’s business ties to the Middle East have more than tripled since the president’s first term in office, including several new projects since Trump returned to the White House.
Perhaps most notably, Trump accepted a luxury 747 jet from the government of Qatar as a “gift” to be used as Air Force One — and one that would part of his presidential library after he leaves office.
Trump’s critics loudly protested the plane as a blatant attempt by Qatar to curry favor with Trump and enrich him personally — as well as a possible violation of the Foreign Emoluments Clause of the US Constitution, which prohibits federal officials from accepting gifts from foreign governments without congressional approval. Even some Republicans expressed misgivings.
But Trump brushed those concerns aside.
“I think it’s a great gesture from Qatar. I appreciate it very much. I would never be one to turn down that kind of an offer,” Trump said in May. “I mean, I could be a stupid person, say, ‘No, we don’t want a free, very expensive airplane.’ But … I thought it was a great gesture.”
Ethics watchdogs say the sprawling number of business ventures Trump is pushing in his second term — including those that benefit from White House policy, such as crypto — has far outpaced that of his first four years in office.
“Trump is using a driver to smash through basic governmental ethics norms. He’s deploying the power of the White House to enrich himself and his family,” said Robert Weissman, co-president of Public Citizen, a consumer rights advocacy group.
“The grift in the Trump administration was the greatest in American history, and it is orders of magnitude worse in the second administration,” Weissman added. “He’s misdirecting policy and taxpayer assets to serve his personal interest, rather than those of the American people.”
The White House has repeatedly rejected allegations that Trump is blending his businesses with the presidency.
“It’s frankly ridiculous that anyone in this room would even suggest that President Trump is doing anything for his own benefit,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in May, in response to questions about whether the president would conduct personal business meetings on his trip to the Middle East. “This White House holds ourselves to the highest of ethical standards.”
Trump’s assets are in a trust managed by his children, and the Trump Organization earlier this year announced the president would not have any involvement in the day-to-day running of the company, which was the same setup he had in his first term. But he still owns and benefits from his sprawling real estate and branding empire.
Unlike during his first term, however, when Trump’s company said it would halt all foreign deals, his son Eric Trump said this year it would continue to pursue its deals with overseas interests, though he said the Trump Organization would not make new agreements with foreign governments.
The Trump projects in the Middle East — many of which have been announced but not yet developed — largely involve licensing agreements with foreign developers that have partnered with the Trump Organization and paid to use the Trump name.
One of those projects, a recently announced deal for a Trump-banded golf course in Qatar, includes a firm backed by the country’s sovereign wealth fund, though the Trump Organization said it did not have any business with the Qatari government.
Trump has also partnered with LIV Golf, a professional golf tour bankrolled by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, including a tournament hosted at the president’s Doral golf property in April.
Trump campaigned on being the most pro-crypto president, and his administration eased up on Biden-era regulation of the industry and established a bitcoin reserve.
In Trump’s latest financial disclosure documents, which cover the period before he took office, he made $57 million from the sale of a cryptocurrency token through a Trump family crypto exchange, World Liberty Financial, launched last year.
The president and his wife, Melania Trump, each launched meme coins on the eve of his inauguration. The value of the president’s $TRUMP coin spiked in April when he announced the top holders of the coin would be invited to a private dinner at Trump’s golf club outside Washington.
The 25 biggest investors got an even more exclusive privilege — access to a small VIP reception with the president — prompting criticisms that the event gave foreigners the opportunity to purchase access to the president.
The Associated Press reported that coin had earned more than $320 million in fees through April, according to an analysis by the crypto tracking firm Chainalysis.
And the New York Times reported in May that World Liberty Financial had secured a deal to take $2 billion in deposits from a venture fund backed by the United Arab Emirates.
Scotland courses
In 2023, Trump’s golf resort in Aberdeenshire was part of the New York attorney general’s civil fraud complaint against the president and the Trump Organization, which accused Trump of inflating the number of houses he intended to build on the Scotland property.
When Trump was questioned on the witness stand about the discrepancy, he focused on the golf course instead. “I think it’s the greatest golf course ever built,” Trump said. “It’s one of the greatest pieces of land I’ve ever seen.”
Now Trump is opening a second course on the same property, with the trappings of the White House behind him. It’s named the MacLeod Course, in honor of Trump’s mother, Mary Anne MacLeod, who was born in 1912 outside of Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis.
“We have a lot of things in Scotland,” Trump said as he left the White House on Friday, noting his familial ties to the land. “I have a lot of love.”
CNN’s Fredreka Schouten and Kevin Liptak contributed to this report.
