Former US president Donald Trump has landed at Aberdeen Airport as he begins a tour of his golf resorts in the UK and Ireland.
The 45th president, who is running for a second term in 2024, touched down in Aberdeen at 11.25am on board his private Boeing 757 jet, nicknamed Trump Force One. Along with son Eric, he was met by two pipers, a red carpet and a 10-vehicle motorcade.
On touchdown, he did not take questions from a press pack gathered on the tarmac at Dyce, saying only that it was "great to be home". He then left the airport in a gold-coloured Chevrolet SUV.
It is his first visit to the UK since 2019, when he was given a controversial state welcome by then Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Mr Trump had previously spent two days at his Turnberry course while in office in 2018, meeting Theresa May and the Queen during the visit.
He is arriving in the UK to cut the ribbon on a second golf course at the Menie Estate – a development that has proven less than popular with locals. A planning permission in principle was granted in 2019 despite an outcry from residents, and planning officers at Aberdeenshire Council gave it the full go-ahead in October 2020.
Previewing the visit on his social media Twitter clone Truth Social, Trump wrote last night: "Will be leaving for Scotland & Ireland soon in order to see and inspect my great properties there. The golf courses and hotels are among the greatest in the world - Turnberry and Aberdeen, in Scotland, and Doonbeg, in Ireland.
"Will be meeting with many wonderful friends, and cutting a ribbon for a new and spectacular second course in Aberdeen. Very exciting despite the fact that it is 'make America great again' that is on my mind, in fact, America will be greater than ever before."
Looming over the 45th president, however, are 34 charges of falsifying business records in the state of New York, where his corporation is registered. Trump, who has pleaded not guilty to the charges, is alleged to have falsely declared payouts he made to porn star Stormy Daniels as business expenses – a felony in the east coast state.
He was later mocked for claiming that court staff had burst into tears as he was indicted earlier this month. One said: “You’d think the way he spoke he was the victim of the biggest miscarriage of justice in history. It’s laughable. No one cried. No one.”
Trump's relationship with Scotland has been fractious. His mother, Mary Anne MacLeod, hailed from the Outer Hebrides, prompting the ex-president to later declare: "I think I do feel Scottish."
However, his visits to his golf courses in Ayrshire and Aberdeenshire have prompted protests from locals outraged at his past comments about immigration and women. Following the storming of the US Capitol building in 2021, golfing board the R&A announced that it would not stage The Open at his Turnberry course while he remains owner.
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