LAST UPDATE | 1 May 2023
FORMER US PRESIDENT Donald Trump has attended a ceremony to break ground for a second course at one of his Scottish golf resorts and named it after his mother.
Trump said it is “great to be home” as he arrived in Aberdeen this morning.
He headed to his Trump International Scotland Course at the Menie Estate near Aberdeen and cut a red ribbon to mark breaking ground on the new MacLeod course – dedicated to his mother, Mary Anne MacLeod.
She was born on the Isle of Lewis in the Western Isles before emigrating to the US.
Trump and his son Eric arrived at Aberdeen Airport at about 11.30am and were met by two pipers, a red carpet and a 10-vehicle motorcade.
Trump said of the new golf course: “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.”
Following his time in Scotland, he will head to his golf course in Doonbeg on Ireland’s west coast.
Despite the visit, Trump, who is running for the White House again in 2024 and is seen by many as the presumptive Republican nominee, said his campaign is “on my mind”, stressing that a victory for him would make America “greater than ever before”.
“Will be leaving for Scotland & Ireland soon in order to see and inspect my great properties there,” he wrote on Truth Social.
“The golf courses and hotels are among the greatest in the world – Turnberry and Aberdeen, in Scotland, and Doonbeg, in Ireland.
“Will be meeting with many wonderful friends, and cutting a ribbon for a new and spectacular second course in Aberdeen.
“Very exciting despite the fact that it is ‘make America great again’ that is on my mind, in fact, America will be greater than ever before.”
The tycoon’s trip to Scotland and Ireland comes as he contests legal action in his native New York over a rape allegation and his business practices.
Trump is accused of sexually assaulting writer E Jean Carroll in a changing room at the luxury Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan in the mid-1990s.
told a US civil trial that an alleged sexual assault by Donald Trump three decades ago left her feeling “ashamed” and unable to have romantic relationships.
He has also pleaded not guilty to charges of falsifying business records to hide damaging information ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
Despite the visit, Trump, who is running for the White House again in 2024 and is seen by many as the presumptive Republican nominee, said his campaign is “on my mind”, stressing that a victory for him would make America “greater than ever before”.
“Will be leaving for Scotland & Ireland soon in order to see and inspect my great properties there,” he wrote.
“The golf courses and hotels are among the greatest in the world – Turnberry and Aberdeen, in Scotland, and Doonbeg, in Ireland.
“Will be meeting with many wonderful friends, and cutting a ribbon for a new and spectacular second course in Aberdeen.
“Very exciting despite the fact that it is ‘make America great again’ that is on my mind, in fact, America will be greater than ever before.”
Trump had previously spent two days at his Turnberry course while in office in 2018, meeting Theresa May and the Queen during the visit.
Asked last week if he will meet Trump, who has made controversial statements about Muslims in the past, First Minister Humza 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.”
Scottish Liberal Democrat justice spokesman Liam McArthur 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.”
When he was justice secretary in 2021, Yousaf rejected Scottish Green Party calls for ministers to push for the Trump Organisation’s golf courses in Scotland to be investigated via an unexplained wealth order (UWO), telling MSPs in a statement at Holyrood it would not be “right or proper”.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say