The House is investigating why a routine military trip to the Middle East stopped at Trump's resort in Scotland

Trump Turnberry.
(Image credit: ANDY BUCHANAN/AFP/Getty Images)

The House Oversight Committee has been investigating why the crew of a C-17 military transport plane making a routine trip from the United States to Kuwait to deliver supplies stayed at President Trump's Turnberry resort in Scotland, Politico reports.

The House panel reportedly sent a letter to the Pentagon in June inquiring about a number of military expenditures near the resort, including $11 million on fuel at Prestwick Airport in Glasgow, Scotland, which is the airport closest to Trump's resort. The letter also says the airport provided discounted rooms and free rounds of golf at Turnberry for U.S. military members.

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Politico notes that the investigation raises the possibility that the military has helped keep the resort, which lost $4.5 million in 2017 but saw revenue increase by $3 million last year, afloat.

On previous trips to the Middle East, the C-17 landed at U.S. air bases in Germany, Spain, the Azores, and Italy to refuel, one person familiar with the trips said, but never in Glasgow, which is a commercial airport, meaning fuel is more expensive. If the plane did indeed need to stop in the U.K. to refuel, Politico reports, it could have landed at Lakenheath Air Base in England.

The Oversight Committee is also investigating Vice President Mike Pence's recent stay at Trump's resort in Doonbeg, Ireland. Read more at Politico.

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.