During his 2016 campaign, Donald Trump insisted that if he were elected, there would be a strict separation between his business interests and the federal government. But Trump, as president, has continued to advance the interests of the Trump Organization. And according to New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman, Mark Landler, and Lara Jakes, Trump tried to move the British Open to his resort in Scotland.
Journalists report that in 2018, Trump asked Robert Wood Johnson, his United States ambassador to Britain, to “see if the British government could help run the world-famous and lucrative British Open golf tournament at the Trump Turnberry complex in Scotland, according to three people with knowledge of the episode. ” Johnson’s MP Lewis A. Lukens advised the ambassador not to do so and told him that Trump’s request was unethical. But Johnson, according to Times reporters, felt pressured and mentioned Trump’s idea when speaking to David Mundell, Scotland’s secretary of state.
“The episode left Mr. Lukens and other diplomats deeply uneasy,” report Haberman, Landler and Jakes. “Mr. Lukens, who served as acting ambassador before Mr. Johnson arrived in November 2017, sent an email to State Department officials to tell them what had happened, his colleagues said. A few more months Later, Mr. Johnson forced Mr. Lukens, a career diplomat who had previously served as ambassador to Senegal, shortly before his term ended. “
Times reporters point out that Trump’s British Open request “was not the first time the president attempted to direct business to one of his properties.” In 2019, they recall, “The White House chose the Trump National Doral complex in Miami as the location for a Group of 7 meeting. Mr. Trump backed away after a political storm ignited, moving the meeting to Camp David before cancel it because of the coronavirus pandemic. “
