Oversight panel investigating Air Force crew’s stop at Trump property in Scotland

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee opened an investigation as to why an Air National Guard crew stopped at President Trump’s Turnberry resort in Scotland while traveling to Kuwait.

The probe, first opened in April, focuses on the unusual stopover the crew on the C-17 military transport plane made on both legs of the trip to deliver supplies, several people familiar with the incident told Politico. But the panel has yet to receive any answers from the Defense Department. 

{mosads}“The Defense Department has not produced a single document in this investigation,” a senior Democratic aide on the oversight panel told The Hill. “The committee will be forced to consider alternative steps if the Pentagon does not begin complying voluntarily in the coming days.”

The Pentagon and Oversight Committee did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Hill.

The oversight panel’s investigation is part of a broader inquiry into military spending at and around the Scotland property, according to Politico. The committee said in a letter to the Pentagon in June that was obtained by The Hill that the military has spent $11 million on fuel at the Prestwick Airport, the closest airport to Trump Turnberry, since October 2017 even though the fuel would be cheaper if purchased at a U.S. military base.

The news comes as the administration is under intense scrutiny over Vice President Pence’s decision to stay at Trump International Golf Links & Hotel in Doonbeg, Ireland, despite having meetings 182 miles away in Dublin, fueling Democratic concerns that the government has made moves to line Trump’s personal pockets. 

Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), a vocal Trump critic, hammered the Pentagon over the C-17’s stop in Turnberry, saying it “smells like corruption.”

Dear Secretary of Defense @EsperDoD: This smells like corruption.

Can you explain to the American people why US military personnel apparently went out of their way to fly to a @realDonaldTrump resort? https://t.co/D8aCBQggwA

— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) September 7, 2019