President Trump turned to his longtime lender, Deutsche Bank, in early 2016 for a loan of at least $10 million to work on the Trump Organization's Turnberry golf resort in Scotland, and Deutsche Bank said no, judging the risk too high, The New York Times reported over the weekend. On Monday, The Times of London reported that Maryland prosecutors have subpoenaed financial documents relating to DJT Holdings LLC, the company that owns the Turnberry club and Washington's Trump International Hotel, among other properties, to find out who exactly owns it. There is speculation Russia is financially involved.
"In the decade before he was elected president, Mr. Trump's company spent hundreds of millions of dollars buying or renovating about a dozen clubs and resorts around the world," The New York Times reports. "The funding of Mr. Trump's golf empire has been something of a mystery." Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh says his team is looking for evidence "President Trump is violating the Constitution's emoluments clauses." Those cases "are rare and challenging to prove," says Vanity Fair's Eric Lutz. "Potentially more worrisome for the president is the possibility that the Maryland subpoena could reveal the unknown source of DJT Holdings's funding."
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