If President Donald Trump’s plans for after he leaves office include traveling internationally, he will not be able to do so in Scotland, according to that country’s head of government.
Rumors have abounded as of late that the president could be planning to visit his Trump Turnberry golf resort in Scotland as soon as he’s no longer residing in the White House. President-elect Joe Biden is set to be inaugurated as president at noon on January 20.
Reports in Scottish news media indicate there has been some unusual U.S. military activity at Prestwick Airport, which is near the Turnberry property that Trump owns. Surveillance aircraft have also been spotted flying over the golf resort, and a Boeing 757 previously used by Trump has been scheduled to land at the airport on January 19.
That activity, as well as Trump staying silent about his post-presidential plans while continuing his errant assertion that he won the election and will remain president, have led some to speculate that he may be planning to visit Scotland prior to Biden’s inauguration, skipping that event altogether in the process.
Trump’s aides in the White House have decried the reports, but they’ve also not denied that the president could be planning some form of international travel.
“Anonymous sources who claim to know what the president is or is not considering have no idea. When President Trump has an announcement about his plans for January 20, he will let you know,” deputy White House Press Secretary Judd Deere said in response to the rumors.
Whether Trump is planning a trip to his golf resort or not, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said the president would not be allowed to enter the country, citing current coronavirus restrictions in the greater United Kingdom.
Scotland’s restrictions currently allow no visitors to travel there unless there is an essential purpose for doing so.
“That would apply to him just as it applies to anybody else, and coming to play golf is not what I would consider to be an essential purpose,” Sturgeon said this week.
Sturgeon insisted her comments did not imply that she knew anything at this point about what Trump’s plans were, or if they included Scotland. But she did make it clear that she hoped his plans did include moving out of his current residence.
“I hope and expect that – as everybody expects, not everybody necessarily will hope – that the travel plan immediately that he has is to exit the White House,” Sturgeon said.
Trump is not particularly well-liked in Scotland. A poll conducted last fall found that only 12 percent of Scots wanted to see him win another four-year term in the U.S. presidential election this year. Nearly 7 in 10 said they wanted Biden to win.
While Trump continues to insist that he will remain in office past January 20, the election results, including the Electoral College, are set to be affirmed on Wednesday during a joint session of Congress. A number of Republicans are planning on challenging those results, which show Biden defeating Trump by an Electoral College margin of 306 votes to 232, but those challenges are not expected to be successful.
In addition to winning the Electoral College, Biden also defeated Trump by a resounding 7 million ballots in the popular vote totals across the U.S.
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