By Martyn McLaughlin
Published 31st May 2024
Former US president’s legal woes reignite calls for probe of Scottish properties
Scotland's most senior law officer has been urged to heed long-standing calls to investigate the source of the funds underpinning Donald Trump’s purchase of his flagship international resort after he became the first former US president to be convicted of a criminal offence.
In a historic decision on Thursday night, a New York jury found Trump guilty of falsifying business records to commit election fraud. He was found guilty of all 34 counts he faced, and is due to be sentenced on July 11, just days before the beginning of the Republican National Convention, where he is widely expected to be formally announced as the party’s presidential candidate.
The verdicts have sent shockwaves across the US and intensified debate around the implications for November’s election. However, the fallout is also being felt on this side of the Atlantic, where campaigners say the jury’s decision raises further questions about Trump’s Scottish assets and their financing.
Nick Flynn, Avaaz’s legal director, said: “We have always argued that the low threshold for seeking a UWO over Turnberry has been easily cleared. Trump's criminal conviction for fraud, together with the New York Attorney General's reliance on evidence of fraud at his Scottish golf courses in her massive civil fraud claim, vindicate the position we took in our judicial review of the Scottish Government.
“We established then that the Lord Advocate is responsible for using the power to seek a UWO to protect Scotland's reputation for financial probity, forcing Trump to clarify where he got the $60 million [£47m] in cash he used to buy Turnberry. Her failure to act is, frankly, inexplicable now. What more evidence does she need?”
Patrick Harvie, co-leader of the Scottish Greens, echoed calls for a UWO to be carried out in the wake of Trump’s conviction. “It raises even more serious questions about the trustworthiness of the former president, and I hope it will result in further investigations and questions raised about his business here in Scotland,” he said. “I would urge Scottish ministers and law officers to look again at the request for a UWO. If Donald Trump truly is the 'very innocent man' that he preposterously claims, then he surely has no reason to fear questions about his immense wealth and where it has come from.”
A spokesman for Scotland’s Civil Recovery Unit said: “Civil recovery investigations, which include applications to the court for an UWO, are conducted on behalf of the Scottish ministers by the Civil Recovery Unit, which reports to the Lord Advocate. The CRU does not confirm or deny whether a civil recovery investigation has commenced. This is a statement of policy and, as such, nothing should be inferred, one way or the other.”
The Trump Organisation and Trump Turnberry have been contacted for comment.
Not being convicted felon in 'plus column’: Libertarian candidate
(NewsNation) — While much of the country was glued to their televisions and phones for updates on Donald Trump’s hush money trial and eventual conviction, Chase Oliver was busy campaigning for president.
“I didn’t pay a ton of attention to the trial itself,” said Oliver, the Libertarian Party’s nominee for president in 2024.
Oliver told NewsNation’s Elizabeth Vargas that he didn’t watch much of the trial but believes Trump will now likely have more to say about the criminal justice system.
“Donald Trump is likely to start talking about the problems with our justice system, the injustices in our justice system. But during his four years as president, there were millions of people who had problems in our justice system that he completely ignored,” Oliver said, referencing Trump’s policies on mandatory minimum sentencing and support for the death penalty.
“He starts caring about it once it affects him,” Oliver said.
The 38-year-old Tennessee native who worked in the restaurant business prior to getting into politics said he’s more interested in the Libertarian Party’s platform.
“We’re (Libertarians) for maximum freedom, he said. “Ending taxation, getting rid of all this excess government, and of course, we’re the most pro-Second Amendment party in the United States.”
The Libertarian Party nominated Oliver last week, rejecting former Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. after they each spoke at the party’s convention. Trump appeared at the convention to give a speech that was repeatedly booed by many in the room. It did not pay off with the endorsement he requested.
Oliver, however, walked with the nomination.
His campaign website calls for major cuts to the federal budget with an eye toward balancing the budget, the abolition of the death penalty, the closure of all overseas military bases and the ending of military support to Israel and Ukraine.
Third parties have rarely been competitive in U.S. presidential elections, and the Libertarian candidate four years ago won just 1% of the vote.
Oliver acknowledged the party has work to do in getting its message out.
“What we can do is start working towards reducing the state and showing the proof of concept of what limited government looks like — how we actually can increase prosperity for the average American family,” Oliver said.
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