Donald Trump 'not coming to Scotland' for inauguration day

Donald Trump will not be visiting Scotland as his presidency ends next week.

There had been speculation that the outgoing US leader would travel to his Turnberry golf resort in South Ayrshire ahead of Joe Biden taking office at the White House on Wednesday.

However, according to the Press Association news agency, Trump will not be coming to Scotland.

The outgoing president and his successor traditionally travel together to the inauguration ceremony at the Capitol from the White House.

But Trump, who was defeated in November’s US election, has previously said he will not attend the January 20 ceremony.

The 74-year-old was reportedly considering travelling to Turnberry to avoid seeing Mr Biden being sworn into office.

Prestwick Airport was told to expect the arrival of a US military Boeing 757 aircraft previously used by Trump on January 19, according to the Sunday Post.

But First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has in recent days stressed it is illegal to travel in or out of Scotland without a valid reason, adding: “Coming to play golf is not what I would consider to be an essential purpose.”

When asked about the speculation earlier this week, she said: “I have no idea what Donald Trump’s travel plans are, you’ll be glad to know.

“I hope and expect that – as everybody expects, not everybody necessarily will hope – that the travel plan immediately that he has is to exit the White House.

“But beyond that I don’t know.

“We are not allowing people to come in to Scotland without an essential purpose right now and that would apply to him, just as it applies to anybody else.”

Scottish justice secretary Humza Yousaf also suggested the Home Office should consider denying Trump entry to the UK after he leaves office.

Biden won the presidency with 306 electoral college votes to Trump’s 232 and will become president at noon local time on January 20.

The Democratic president-elect received 81,283,485 votes versus the incumbent’s 74,223,744 – a margin of more than seven million in the popular vote.

In a video statement after the recent violence at the Capitol, Trump told supporters that while he knows they are “disappointed” by the election result, he wanted them to know “our incredible journey is only just beginning”.

Five people died in the incident, including a police officer who had been struck by a fire extinguisher.