How I investigated the money flowing into Donald Trump's Scottish businesses - and it took 38 months

I consider myself fortunate that my career in journalism has dovetailed with the emergence of Freedom of Information (FOI) legislation. The ability to obtain records, data and correspondence from public bodies is a vital part of my day-to-day toolkit, and at a time when obfuscation and opacity are rampant, it helps shed much-needed light on crucial issues.

Are the laws perfect? Of course not. They should apply to private firms responsible for delivering public services, and the existing legislation is routinely ignored. Only the other week, a fourth-wall breaking FOI request submitted to Scottish ministers showed that in the first six months of 2024, 114 requests received a late response. 

As well as using the Scottish and UK acts, I have dipped my toe in other legislatures. Having written extensively about Donald Trump’s Scottish properties, I reasoned that US FOI laws could be a means of getting hold of information that would be otherwise hard to come by.

With the help of a few friendly journalistic contacts stateside, a very long game of cat and mouse began. At the time, there was intense scrutiny of how Mr Trump’s businesses were receiving payments from his own government, and I thought I could provide some answers. 

It took years to get hold of the documents, but when they arrived, they showed how the Secret Service was paying Donald Trump’s firm. Picture: Jeff J Mitchell / Getty | Getty Images

I already had dates and details of when the Trump brethren had descended on Scotland and, feeling buoyed, I sent off the kind of thorough, focused request that, nine times out of ten, worked in Scotland. Alas, as the old saying goes, everything is bigger in the US, FOI requests included. 

The US Department of Homeland Security informed me my request was not classed as ‘perfected’, meaning I had failed to “reasonably describe” what I was looking for. Having dissected this Orwellian explanation, I doubled down, determined to provide the kind of specificity that would turn up some evidence.

In turn, I asked for copies of - deep breath - bills, receipts, invoices, vouchers, accounting documents, cost authorisation approvals, documents, correspondence, and other cost records for motorcades, aircraft - including aircraft for aides, press, and security detail - and helicopters, ground transportation, lodging, meals, entertainment, and other related costs. If there was a Post-It note, I wanted it.

The request took several twists and turns from there, and it required the patience of a saint to sift through and respond to the various updates. Above all else, FOI requires you to be a disciplined administrator. In the end, it took nearly 38 months for the US government to disclose the information - the kind of timescale that makes the Scottish Government’s process look positively expeditious.

It required a detailed - or to use the US government’s phrasing, a ‘perfected’ - request in order to get details of the payments. Picture: Katharine Hay | Katharine Hay

Was it worth it? Absolutely. I was rewarded with a spate of documents showing that Mr Trump’s Turnberry resort had received around £25,000 from the Secret Service to cover various business trips to the South Ayrshire property by his son, Eric. The resultant story offered irrefutable proof of how public funds from the US were going to the private Trump businesses in Scotland. 

I’ve since gone back several times to use the US laws to gather more information, and depending on how people vote in November, that work may intensify in a few months’ time. Either way, it’s a wonderful resource, and I hope the legislation here and further afield is strengthened. Goodness knows we need it.