The recent revelation that crew members are bunking for the night at Trump’s Turnberry resort in Scotland has the Air Force reevaluating their process for selecting overnight accommodations, and it has prominent members of congress like AOC calling for impeachment:
The President is corrupt and must be impeached. https://t.co/L4fS2pExDe
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) September 7, 2019
Politico reported the incident that sparked the outrage stating that a C-17 crew stopped for refueling at Prestwick Airport on the way back from Qatar, and the passengers and crew on the craft spent the night at the luxury property.
AF Brig. Ed Thomas claims that “initial reviews indicate” the crew “adhered” to proper procedures, but Thomas admits that it isn’t necessarily a good look for the military:
“Lodging at higher-end accommodations, even if within government rates, might be allowable but not advisable. Therefore, we are reviewing all associated guidance. Even when the USAG aircrews follow all directives and guidance, we must still be considerate of perceptions of not being good stewards of taxpayer funds that might be created through the appearance of aircrew staying at such locations.”
But there are many Air Force vets on Twitter adamantly disagreeing with the Brig.’s statement. They claim that staying at luxury resorts was definitely business as usual.
@usairforce Oh give me a fKng break. Stop the BS quisling statements.
NEVER, EVER, EVER were ANY of my crews asked to stay at ridiculous resorts and I flew on missions to DOZENS of countries.
The #corruption is obvious. STOP IT.
— CaptainMamaGTS (@mama_gts) September 8, 2019
I was on the mobility team when I was in the Air Force and did a bit of travel as part of the job. Not once did we stay anywhere but on a military base.
— techn0gichida (@techn0gichida) September 8, 2019
When I was flying in the Coast Guard, we sometimes had to sleep on the plane. We certainly NEVER stayed at a “resort”.
— Lisa Koch (@dagknee) September 8, 2019
The Air Force insists that stopping at Prestwick Airport is “essential” because it has a “large parking area” and Department of Defense has contracted “standardized prices” for fuel. Yet, the Air Force has really ramped up their use of the airport for fueling and their overnight stays in the area since Trump took office.
- 2015: 95 stops for fuel and 40 overnights
- 2016: 145 stops and 75 overnights
- 2017: 180 stops and 116 overnights
- 2018: 257 stops and 208 overnights
- So far in 2019: 259 stops and 220 overnights
Where those crews stayed on all of the overnights has not yet been released.
These new revelations about government spending at Trump properties are nothing new. Just last week VP Pence was heaped with criticism for choosing to stay at one of the President’s resorts while in Ireland, even though the property was hours away from his meetings. Not to mention the millions that have been spent on Trump’s golf outings and Melania’s stay in Trump Tower before she made the move to the White House.
This isn’t the first time this month that Ocasio-Cortez has called the President corrupt:
Virtually every policy Trump pursues works to steal public money & personally enrich himself & his friends.
💰Gutting National Monuments pays ➡️ Fossil Fuel CEOs
💰Border concentration camps pay ➡️ Private Prison CEOs
💰Betsy DeVos pays ➡️ loan sharksIt’s always about the con. https://t.co/ggINFg52Kw
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) September 3, 2019