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America First Audit

He said it in public. These are the documents on what happened next. Browse all records.

Why these cases

Trump sold “America First.” This record traces how public money, power, and risk moved toward family businesses, donors, favored firms, and foreign governments: and what workers, ranchers, retirees, patients, veterans, and small investors were left to absorb.

Said vs. done

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Case 133 of 254

The No-New-Foreign-Deals Pledge and the Scotland Expansion

Actions
documentedLocal authorities approved a major housing and resort expansion at the Trump Organization's Aberdeen property during Trump's presidency.U.S. CongressThe Washington PostRead record · 2 sources
Outcomes
reportedThe company said the expansion complied with its pledge because the underlying project already existed.The Washington PostRead record · 1 source
People and impacts
Who gained
  • Trump International Golf Links Scotland
Who paid or was affected
  • Aberdeenshire community and planning authority
Promise and assessment
The promise
documentedAt Trump's January 2017 press conference, counsel for the Trump Organization said the arrangement would isolate him from the business, bar new foreign deals and donate foreign-government hotel profits to the Treasury.TimeU.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government ReformRead record · 2 sources

Promise unresolved

The expansion continued a preexisting foreign property, so it fell inside the company's own reading of its pledge. Whether that reading matched the public meaning of no new foreign deals stayed disputed.

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