Trump Had US Ambassador Press UK For Golf Deal: Former Diplomat | Rachel Maddow | MSNBC

Lewis Lukens, former Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in London, talks with Rachel Maddow about U.S. Ambassador to the U.K. Woody Johnson pressing his British counterparts on Donald Trump's behalf to move the British Open to Trump's Turnberry golf course. Aired on 8/5/2020.
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Trump Had US Ambassador Press UK For Golf Deal: Former Diplomat | Rachel Maddow | MSNBC

76 comments

  1. So last year we learned that on Don the Con’s orders, the Pentagon acknowledged that it had been sending US troops to his failing Turnberry golf resort while they were on overnight layovers at the nearby Glasgow Prestwick Airport in Scotland, for the sole purpose of lining  his greedy pockets with taxpayer dollars.

    Then we learned that DJT wanted to hold this year’s G-7 Summit at his Doral resort in Florida, so that he could again line his greedy pockets with millions in foreign money and taxpayer dollars.

    Now we’ve recently learned that DJT asked the American ambassador to Britain, Woody Johnson, to see if the British government could help steer the lucrative British Open golf tournament to the Trump Turnberry resort in Scotland.

    This is a level of corruption that we have never seen before, or even imagined. Its naked, gratuitous, egregious and overt corruption on steroids. Nixon’s ghost can finally rest in peace, for Nixon is no longer the most corrupt president in American history. T.rump’s face belongs on the Mt Rushmore of corruption….all by itself. At this point, they should just wrap the entire White House with yellow police tape, and declare the whole thing a crime scene..

    And win or lose in November, one thing won’t change for Trump: Over the next few years, he must settle a series of TREMENDOUSLY large debts. Before the end of a theoretical second term, his company will have to refinance—or, in a far less likely scenario, pay off—nearly a half-billion dollars in loans. These debts are maturing at the worst time for Trump, whose roach  hotels and resorts have been plagued by declining revenues. And that was before the pandemic pummeled the hospitality industry.

    On financial disclosure forms, Trump has reported holding 14 loans on 12 proper­ties. At least six of those loans, representing about $479 million in debt, are due over the next four years. Some are guaranteed by Trump himself, meaning a creditor could come after his personal—not corporate—­assets if he defaults. If he holds onto the White House, the refinancing of these debts could take his conflicts of interest to absurd new heights. How will the public know if these deals are on the up and up or whether Trump is receiving sweetheart terms from a bank that wants an in with the president? And what might a lender desire in return for helping Trump out of a financial jam?

    Trump’s biggest creditor is Deutsche Bank, the bank preferred by Russian mobsters and Oligarchs. In the late 1990s, Deutsche Bank took a gamble on Trump, whose history of bankruptcies made him untouchable by most other lenders. Deutsche’s commercial lending division learned the hard way one reason why other banks wouldn’t touch Trump with a ten-foot pole: If pushed by his creditors on payments, Trump shoved back. In 2008, after he defaulted on a loan for his Chicago hotel and condo development, he filed a multibillion-­dollar suit accusing Deutsche and others of contributing to the recent financial meltdown, which he blamed for his inability to repay the loan.

    Nevertheless, Deutsche’s private banking division, which caters to wealthy clientele, continued to lend to Trump, giving him $125 million, spread over two loans, to finance the purchase and renovation of his Doral golf resort in 2012. Both are floating rate loans, meaning the interest rate fluctuates based on market conditions, which lending experts say usually indicates they are interest-only loans. If so, Trump probably hasn’t paid down much if any of the principal and will owe something close to the whole $125 million when the loans come due in 2023.

    In 2014, Trump took out a separate floating loan from Deutsche’s private bank to bankroll the development of his luxury hotel in Washington, DC. The balance of this $170 million debt is payable in 2024. That year, Trump will also owe Deutsche between $25 million and $50 million in connection with his Chicago hotel and complex..

    1. @Citadel of winds great to hear from another ingrate ….You could fall on your knees and ask God, what next.

    2. @Jacqueline Wernett , Wow. Banging out six attack shots in a row. That’s some major anger issues.

      You have just demonstrated for the world to see exactly why it’s a good idea to NOT use one’s real name on YouTube comments.

    3. @Citadel of winds Lol, Jacqueline Wernett aka Jacova Reisman aka Brand, but unless you use your real name, you’s a coward… United States Government Escort Service, editor at Paramount and of Jacob’s Ladder with Tim Robbins, sprinkle a few names, I’m sooo impressed… can I get your autograph… does he go back to the Oval office or jail? I’m hooked..

  2. I think the main thing to learn from all of this, is that Trump is definitely NOT a billionaire. He’s a con-artist and a failed real estate developer, who is in debt up to his eyeballs

    1. Cant wait to see what happens when the records are released from Deucherbank. Even the person who handled most of the dealings is under investigation but will she sing??

    2. @Stephen Smith Turned away from spending a night at Buckingham palace knowing that Obama did stay there . I bet that still smarts

  3. t’rump supporters: “He’s going to work every day to help America! Yeah t’rump!”
    America: “How does getting the British Open at his crappy golf resort help me exactly?”
    t’rump supporters: “Shut up, America! 😩🥵”
    America: 😎

  4. According to Barr, Trump can be as criminally corrupt as he likes and he’s going to cover for him.

    1. @Just Say’n I remember that senile king. Im just glad hes dead and would love to spit on his grave.

    2. @Bruce Boring Yeah, I probably am that ignorant. That’s why I believe while I have a right to my beliefs, absolutely no sane individual should take me seriously. I seek no quarrel with you. I don’t even remember what I originally said; just ignore it. See ya around.

    3. @Jeff Smith I agree. I also know about a bird in the hand… but I need to get outta here. I haven’t seen a beating like this since Daniel LaRusso was ambushed by the Cobra Kai after the Halloween dance. I surrender! Take care.

  5. Nothing will happen to Trump and we know it. The only way to get him out of our lives is to vote him out in a landslide in November. It’s only three months away. He can’t contest a landslide vote against him.

    1. Debates 2020!!! I cant wait!! It should be lots of fun!! Don’t you agree?
      💙💜❤️💚💛

    2. @Moin You know to them its all about the brown spanish speaking illegals crossing our borders. Nothing else.

  6. Every Republican in the Senate that cowered & linked arms to protect Trump from impeachment is as culpable & corrupt as Trump is for misuse of office & breaching their oaths to the Constitution of America.

    1. Can’t wait for the tribunals against governmental and congressional co-conspirators next year. Take of them everything they have: their wealth, their privileges, their freedom, their reputation for betraying the american people.

    2. We need to vote in numbers so big that it’s TOO BIG TO RIG! 🌊💙🌊💙🌊
      Since the CULT surrounding, supporting and enabling #AgentTang cannot separate themselves him,
      Let’s make sure they ALL lose their seats!
      republiCon Senate seats up for re-election in 2020:
      Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)
      Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)
      Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.)
      Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) — Alexander announced he is retiring in 2020
      Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.V.)
      Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine)
      Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.)
      Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas)
      Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.)
      Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mt.)
      Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) — Enzi announced he is retiring in 2020
      Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa)
      Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.)
      Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.)
      Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.)
      Sen. Martha McSally (R-Ariz.)
      Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.)
      Sen. James Risch (R-Idaho)
      Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) — Roberts is retiring in 2020
      Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S. D.)
      Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.)
      Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska)
      Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Georgia)
      (https://www.axios.com/senate-seats-election-2020-54bee405-7f43-456c-936f-5bc75758bc59.html)

    1. There’s one boundary, and he’s left with no choice than to undermine it in daylight: voting.

    2. @Anthony Hafciojoni, AGREE 100% .. Yet, he’s trying his best to interfere with VOTING. He undermines VOTING by MAIL with every breath when before a camera. Even having his flunky as louie lajoie ? deliberately slow the mai.l

  7. There was every intention of enriching himself and his businesses all along. His supporters are fine with this; that is the disgusting part.

    1. Yep. Trumpers don’t care about any of Trump’s obvious corruption, but they lost their minds when President Obama wore a tan suit…crazy!

  8. We see now that Trump has been relying on his presidency to get hold of every profitable deal to himself, I.e. his personal gain. He wanted to open G7 to his Florida resort, by “adding Putin”… Also Trump sent Pence to his Scottland resort hotel for the meeting even when the meeting was held in a place far away from Scotland. All are for his personal gain. In addition, all the cost of travel Pence needed to go and back to the meeting place were reimbursed to Pence, which went directly to Trump’s pockets and his resort hotel received the government money for the stay. Everything Trump expected from being the President is only for his own gains. He is a king of corruption.

  9. Just one more crime bunker boy has committed that we can only hope he sees jail time. Vote blue no matter who!!

  10. “It does not take a three hours course in ethics”, BUT Mr. Trump NEVER was able TO STAND a 3 hours course at all…

    1. And bed bugs. Trump tried to pressure the G7 summit in 2020 to be held at his bedbug-infested Doral resort. Now that the entire country is infested with the corona virus no one wants to visit that gigantic petri dish – unless they have a death wish.

    1. @Future Pluperfect that’s not how any of that works…
      Also
      Remind yourself how trump because “rich”

    2. Random Internet User Well, in Trump’s case I suppose it’s fair to say he was gifted a fortune and then halved it.

  11. I am a Brit & so happy tRump won’t ever be visiting here again. Brits hate him & DON’T want him here. We NEVER wanted him to visit the other times.

    1. Trump is apparently a proud Scot, through his mother Mary Ann MacLeod’s bloodline. But from what I’ve heard, pretty much every person in Scotland despises him, because he represents every bad cliché about them and none of the good. The same is true of New York. Virtually every New Yorker despises him. Now finally he’s identifying as a Floridian, at least on paper since he lives in DC and golfs mostly in NJ, AND has finally found a place where the residents love him. Ugh.

  12. I just can’t comprehend how Americans are not up in arms when the president just blatantly lies. Trumps golf courses in UK and Ireland are failing entities and trump is prepared to do quid pro quo with anyone to try prop these business up. He tried with Irish government to have a meeting at his hotel golf course in Ireland . The Irish government refused sighting they would not be promoting the presidents private businesses. The man is an embarrassment to all of Americans and a con man with it.

  13. The question people should be asking is: Has Trump done anything as president that WASN’T corrupt?

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