A FORMER close aide of US president Donald Trump has cautioned against investigating his business dealings in Scotland.
Speaking to investment platform Saxo, former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci argued that attracting Trump’s attention with an unexplained wealth order would lead to negative outcomes – and said the best thing to do would be to “ignore” him.
It comes after Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie called for an investigation into Trump’s businesses in Scotland ahead of his inauguration in Washington DC in January.
“Trump’s investments here in Scotland have already been cited as part of a recent criminal case in New York, which is why we have consistently called for the Scottish Government to issue an unexplained wealth order to investigate his dealings,” Harvie said.
An unexplained wealth order is a legal tool that requires individuals to explain the source of their wealth if it appears disproportionate to their known income, helping to tackle money laundering and criminal assets.
Asked for his views on the call for one to be issued on Trump, Scaramucci told Saxo: “Listen, I don't know Scottish law, but I don't see how that's going to help anything.
“Trump triggers people, gets them angry, and then politicians want to respond to him by doing something that's frustrating to him. I would recommend they not do that.
“My strategy when I met with a group of people from the House of Lords last time I was in England and some of the MPs, was that you ignore Trump. Of course, Keir Starmer has to denounce ethnic cleansing in Gaza, but you generally try to ignore Trump.
“You’ve got to stay out of his field of vision because he's a very mean guy and he'll demean [Canadian prime minister Justin] Trudeau, call him the governor of the 51st state and this sort of stuff.”
“He wants to help Putin for some reason. We don't understand why, but he doesn't want to help Western leaders.
“If you're overly flirtatious with him or you're overly sycophantic towards him, he'll be nice to you temporarily. It won't be for long, though. It’s just the nature of who he is, a very mean guy.”
Scottish Greens MSP Ross Greer told The National: “We cannot look the other way when it comes to allegations of criminal behaviour, regardless of how powerful the person responsible is. Scotland’s international reputation should not be put at risk because we are afraid of a racist bully like Trump.
“Time and again, the world has witnessed the tragic consequences of appeasing dangerous individuals like him. History should not be allowed to repeat itself here.”
Greer pointed to a New York judge ruling that Trump had fraudulently boosted the value of his Scottish properties by hundreds of millions as part of a scheme to dupe banks and to borrow more at lower rates.
“He cannot be exempt from laws which apply to everyone else operating a business in Scotland,” the Green MSP said. “That would be the definition of corruption. The case for an unexplained wealth order is clear and it is long past time for the Scottish Government to act.”
The Greens wrote to First Minister John Swinney calling for action on an unexplained wealth order last October.
Under former first minister Nicola Sturgeon in 2021, the SNP government opposed a motion at Holyrood calling for the legal tool to be deployed.
The SNP and Tories voted together, while the Green motion calling for an order on Trump was backed by Scottish Labour and the LibDems.
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Any decision on whether to apply to the Court of Session for an unexplained wealth order is made by the Civil Recovery Unit.
"It would not be appropriate to comment as those decisions are entirely operational matters for the Civil Recovery Unit.”
