Wait, what?

The Scotsman reports on payments from the US State Department to Donald Trump’s golf resort in Scotland. So far so corrupt and so familiar. But there’s an extra twist.

Last summer, The Scotsman, detailed a series of payments made by the State Department to SLC Turnberry Limited.

The first, for $10,113 (£8,112), was approved on 5 April 2018, followed by $39,602 (£31,768) and $30,074 (£24,125) on 10 and 11 July respectively.

The latter two payments were for hotel accommodation for Mr Trump and key members of his administration. The president was photographed playing two rounds of golf during his two night stay at Turnberry, part of his visit to the UK.

It is understood the April payment related to a visit to Turnberry by Eric Trump. the executive vice president of development and acquisitions at the Trump Organisation.

By Eric Trump? What does that have to do with the State Department? State shouldn’t be pouring money into Trump’s businesses anyway, but the usual scam is for them to book half the administration into Trump hotels while on official business. But Eric Trump is in no way part of the administration, so why are his bills being added to the tab? It’s second-level graft.

The Scotsman doesn’t explain.