According to The Scotsman, a vote will be taken up this week on whether to launch an investigation into Donald Trump’s finances and properties. And while Attorney General of New York Letitia James is another concern for the former president, Scotland appears to be ahead of the game. At this point, Trump must be regretting ever running for president. Of course, though, this is also likely why he wanted to overturn the election results after being defeated by Joe Biden.
“An opposition debate in the Scottish Parliament will set out the arguments for ministers to apply to the Court of Session and act on growing concerns over how the former US president’s holdings in Scotland were acquired,” the outlet reports. “While the issue has been discussed three times at Holyrood in the past 12 months, the coming debate is significant.”
“A vote by MSPs calling on ministers to seek an UWO would not be binding, but it would substantially increase pressure on First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to act in line with Holyrood’s will,” the report says.
“Wednesday’s debate is being brought to the chamber by Patrick Harvie, co-convenor of the Scottish Greens, who has repeatedly pressed Ms. Sturgeon to look into “serious and evidenced concerns” surrounding Mr. Trump’s purchases of the Turnberry resort, and land for his inaugural Scottish property in Aberdeenshire,” The Scotsman reports.
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“The Scottish Government has tried to avoid the question of investigating Donald Trump’s wealth for far too long,” Harvie told the paper. “There are serious concerns about how he financed the cash purchases of his Scottish golf courses, but no investigation has ever taken place.”
“Nicola Sturgeon’s claims that it has nothing to do with her have been shown to be untrue,” he continued. “It’s long past time the government demonstrated that Scotland cannot be a country where anyone with the money can buy whatever land and property they want, no questions asked.”
“That’s why I’m bringing this vote to Parliament,” he added. “The government must seek an unexplained wealth order to shine a light on Trump’s shadowy dealings.”
Trump never fulfilled his campaign promise to release his taxes. It’s almost as if the former president has something to hide. Trump is loathed in Scotland, so this should be interesting. Trump has done a lot of shady business practices, so just add this to the pile.
Updated:
Scottish Parliament voted against the probe.
You can read the full report here.
Featured image via Gage Skidmore/Flickr, under Creative Commons license 2.0
