The New York Times is out with a new report on the Trump Organization and its past dealings with the Prestwick Airport in Scotland, but it’s nothing more than a rehash of a 2016 article in the Scotsman which already reported all of this:
JUST POSTED: Trump Org Had Deal With Airport That Sent Flight US Air Force Crews to His Resort in Scotland https://t.co/1SSIt0kSbV
— Eric Lipton (@EricLiptonNYT) September 10, 2019
And here’s the Scotsman article from 2016 by Martyn McLaughlin:
Here's my @scotonsunday piece from earlier in the week detailing the talks between Trump and Prestwick: https://t.co/YGJXpf9frD
— Martyn McLaughlin (@MartynMcL) February 25, 2016
Needless to say, McLaughlin is quite pissed that the NYT’s Eric Lipton didn’t credit his reporting:
Eric, the FoI docs your article is based on were disclosed to me in Feb '16. I revealed the Trump/Prestwick deal that same month & disclosed some docs this weekend. It'd be instructive to @nytimes readers, and courteous to me, if you acknowledged this. https://t.co/RkmQ7yIBj8 https://t.co/kkjycAZCCc pic.twitter.com/QzrYnJo5IV
— Martyn McLaughlin (@MartynMcL) September 10, 2019
Crickets from the NYT:
Six hours on and still no attribution from @EricLiptonNYT or @nytimes for the rehash of my 2016 story, let alone an apology for passing off my FOI disclosures as his own. This is the kind of ethically compromised reporting that makes it harder for every journalist to do their job https://t.co/oStv2JzSJD
— Martyn McLaughlin (@MartynMcL) September 10, 2019
This clown. The reason the pages were up on the Scottish government website was because of the older articles that would have come up in a Google search:
Many of these above documents are on the internet, as they were previously requested by other reporters. I got them directly from the Scottish government websites today. Thanks for all the early work by reporters from the Scotsman and Guardian to make the original requests.
— Eric Lipton (@EricLiptonNYT) September 10, 2019
Or is the NYT going to claim that they didn’t do the same research an editor at Twitchy did days ago?
Just did a quick search and it seems the Prestwick story was there the whole time but the US media didn't pick up on it.https://t.co/ZvScECKYO4
— Greg Pollowitz (@GPollowitz) September 7, 2019
McLaughlin called out Politico for its reporting as well:
I also referenced the deal in this follow up to @NatashaBertrand's scoop. It would have showed up in a cursory Google search, as would my 2016 piece. The media in the US & elsewhere is suffering from a crisis of trust at the moment. You're not helping. https://t.co/r5IhtqpZuk
— Martyn McLaughlin (@MartynMcL) September 10, 2019
Anyway, here’s Lipton’s long thread on his article which is funny because it means the Obama administration helped to enrich now-President Trump:
SHOW ME THE DOCUMENTS: Here are a series of documents obtained via Scottish Freedom of Information law that shows Trump Org negotiating with Glasgow-area airport. The goal: send air crews to Trump Turnberry golf resort. That now includes US Air Force crews https://t.co/is5lxyR1V8
— Eric Lipton (@EricLiptonNYT) September 10, 2019
Let me walk through this a bit, to explain the documents. Trump bought the Turnberry resort in 2014 and began renovations, while also starting discussions with local authorities about helping drive customers to Trump Turnberry & keeping the struggling local airport afloat pic.twitter.com/gRcqC9EQ3B
— Eric Lipton (@EricLiptonNYT) September 10, 2019
The first part of the deal was a promise–never really delivered on in a big way–that Trump Org was going to put its helicopter and plane at the Glasgow Prestwick Airport, abt 20 miles from his resort. Helps airport and could carry Trump customers too. pic.twitter.com/HWZWzemzJg
— Eric Lipton (@EricLiptonNYT) September 10, 2019
But it was the second part of this effort that was really the key for Trump Org. It negotiated with the Prestwick airport to refer customers to the Trump Turnberry. When air crews arrived at the regional airport, it would send them to Trump. See this email. pic.twitter.com/bJnC9eOYIz
— Eric Lipton (@EricLiptonNYT) September 10, 2019
The goal here was clear: Drive more air traffic to Prestwick airport and more hotel business to Trump Turnberry. "Mutual benefit," is the term the airport manager used after a meeting with "Donald Trump's team" pic.twitter.com/b753OaBMtb
— Eric Lipton (@EricLiptonNYT) September 10, 2019
And with that, the referrals to Trump Turnberry began. Here is an email detailing one of the early ones. 45 people sent to Trump Turnberry here from the Prestwick airport, back in 2015. pic.twitter.com/jHtee2Kqld
— Eric Lipton (@EricLiptonNYT) September 10, 2019
And with that, the referrals to Trump Turnberry began. Here is an email detailing one of the early ones. 45 people sent to Trump Turnberry here from the Prestwick airport, back in 2015. pic.twitter.com/jHtee2Kqld
— Eric Lipton (@EricLiptonNYT) September 10, 2019
The arrangement with the Glasgow Prestwick airport was to refer arriving air crews to Trump Turnberry IN GENERAL. Any kind of crew. But the Air Force, it turns out, relied on Glasgow Prestwick airport to help it find accommodations when Air Force crews over nighted too. pic.twitter.com/W8MTgMKUbn
— Eric Lipton (@EricLiptonNYT) September 10, 2019
The New York Times today asked the US Air Force if it relied on Glasgow Prestwick airport to help identify rooms for its overnight crews. Here is what Air Force said. pic.twitter.com/fBYEbWAWGu
— Eric Lipton (@EricLiptonNYT) September 10, 2019
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