Trump Organization seeks bailout money from UK and Ireland

The Trump Organization is seeking bailout money from the United Kingdom and Ireland to help pay furloughed employees at its European golf properties during the coronavirus pandemic.

The company owned by President Trump is allowed to access government funding to pay most employees’ salaries, but it’s unclear whether the organization would pay the balance of the salaries for furloughed workers, Bloomberg News reported Wednesday.

The Irish subsidy program provides companies with money to pay 70 percent of furloughed staff’s weekly take-home pay, with a cap, if they are on payroll. In the U.K., 80 percent of workers’ salaries is paid, capped at about $2,700. 

A Trump Organization spokesperson said in a statement that it is doing “all that we can” to keep and support its staff. 

“The job retention plan created by the UK Government has nothing to do with the Trump Organization and does not benefit the business — it is solely about protecting people and their families who would otherwise be out of work,” the spokesperson said. “We are anxiously awaiting the day that we receive approval from the government to reopen our doors and look forward to getting back to business.”

The $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief package signed into law last month by Trump prohibits the president’s company from receiving similar funding in the U.S.

An official from Trump’s Doonbeg resort in Ireland told Bloomberg News that the majority of staff had been laid off but declined to give a specific number. Managing Director Joe Russell also said the company is making sure workers are covered by government programs.

A local elected official near Trump Turnberry in Scotland told the news outlet that the resort is filing to have access to bailout funds.

Sarah Malone, an executive vice president of the Trump resort in Aberdeenshire, said the organization is taking steps that any other business would at this time.

“We are no different to any other business, including many media companies — this has nothing to do with Trump and does not benefit the business — the actions we have taken are solely to protect people and their families who would otherwise be out of work and struggling to survive financially,” she said, according to Bloomberg.

Trump’s resorts in Scotland and Ireland were losing money before the pandemic, despite the organization spending several millions of dollars over the past decade, according to the news outlet.

The New York Times reported Tuesday that the Trump hotel in Washington, D.C., is asking for a break on the $3 million in annual rent it pays to the U.S. General Services Administration for use of the building.