U.S. Ambassador to Britain Petitioned to Have British Open at Trump’s Golf Course

Mark Landler, Lara Jakes, and Maggie Haberman, reporting for The New York Times:

The American ambassador to Britain, Robert Wood Johnson IV, told multiple colleagues in February 2018 that President Trump had asked him to see if the British government could help steer the world-famous and lucrative British Open golf tournament to the Trump Turnberry resort in Scotland, according to three people with knowledge of the episode.

The ambassador’s deputy, Lewis A. Lukens, advised him not to do it, warning that it would be an unethical use of the presidency for private gain, these people said. But Mr. Johnson apparently felt pressured to try. A few weeks later, he raised the idea of Turnberry playing host to the Open with the secretary of state for Scotland, David Mundell.

For those of you who’ve been asking for fewer posts on politics and Trump’s jackassery, I figured I’d post about sports.

★ Wednesday, 22 July 2020