Members of Trump’s private clubs may have been invited to tour Air Force One: report

Members of President Trump’s private clubs in Florida appear to have been invited last year to tour Air Force One, according to BuzzFeed News.

The news outlet said it obtained an invitation and then cross-checked it with records it received through a Freedom of Information Act request. The article, published Monday, said club members neither confirmed nor denied that they attended the event that was slated to include 14 tour participants.

Still, the invitation would raise more questions about the line between the Trump administration and the president’s private businesses, BuzzFeed noted. Membership in Trump’s exclusive clubs costs thousands of dollars a year.

Air Force One tours were scheduled for Atlantic Aviation FBO at Palm Beach International for 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. in February 2017, according to BuzzFeed, adding that the tours were recorded differently than any other Air Force One Tour that took place in the following 14 months because they do not list the agency name or title of the official in charge of the tour.

The invitation was sent to undisclosed recipients by Air Force pilot William McDougall, BuzzFeed reported.

“It is common for friends/family of the President to receive tours of Air Force One,” Stephanie Grisham, then a spokeswoman for the White House who now works for the first lady, said in an e-mail to BuzzFeed last year. “This is something that has been done in past administrations going back years and is not out of the ordinary.”

She also said that that if invitations were extended to long-time club members, “then they are also most likely longtime friends of the President.”