Donald Trump should not travel to Scotland after he leaves the White House, political leaders have warned.
Justice secretary Humza Yousaf called on the UK Government to deny him entry after the chaotic scenes in Washington on Wednesday night.
After he urged them to march to Capitol Hill, supporters of President Trump stormed the building as Congress gathered to finalise Joe Biden’s election.
Biden will become president on January 20, with reports in America suggesting Trump intends to travel to Turnberry Hotel in Ayrshire, which he owns.
However, coronavirus rules currently prevent people from entering or leaving the country, unless essential.
Yousaf said: “Once he leaves office, if Trump tries to come to UK the Home Secretary should give serious consideration to denying him entry.
“She has the power if an applicant’s presence is not conducive to the public good Trump’s default is to stir up racial tension and yesterday he incited a violent mob.
The First Minister also urged the outgoing president to stay away during an interview on Good Morning Britain on Thursday.
Nicola Sturgeon said: “Let me be very clear, I don’t particularly relish having Donald Trump at any time.
“But we’re in a pandemic at the moment and we are very clearly saying to people, in fact this is underpinned by law right now in Scotland, you should not be travelling out of the country or into the country unless you have a really essential purpose.
“If I can be very, very blunt about this, Donald Trump coming to Scotland to play golf is not in my book an essential purpose so I would ask him not to.
“According to the White House he has no plans to do that I understand, but I would ask him to abide by the restrictions that are in place right now to try and keep the population here as safe as possible from Covid.”
Home Secretary Priti Patel blamed Trump’s incendiary comments for directly provoking violence when his supporters stormed the US Capitol in an attempt to overturn the election and prevent Biden taking to the White House.
The chaos raged after Trump gave his fans a jolt into action in a rally outside the White House and urged them to march to the Capitol.
Protesters then clashed with police, one woman died after being shot and three other people died after suffering “medical emergencies”, according to police chief Robert Contee.
As politicians from across the spectrum condemn Trump in the aftermath, the president committed to “an orderly transition” on January 20 after Congress belatedly certified his Democratic challenger’s victory.
His concession was tweeted by his social media director because Twitter and Facebook temporarily suspended Trump from posting after he published a video statement repeating falsehoods over the validity of the election and urged supporters to “go home” from the house of Congress as politicians met to confirm Biden’s victory.
Patel first accused the president of doing “very little to de-escalate the situation” and, during an interview with Sky News, called for him to “absolutely condemn everything that has taken place”.
But she went further in a subsequent appearance on BBC Breakfast to blame Trump for fanning the flames and provoking the scenes that marred American democracy.
“His comments directly led to the violence and so far he has failed to condemn that violence and that is completely wrong,” the Home Secretary said.
“He basically has made a number of comments yesterday that helped to fuel that violence and he didn’t do anything to de-escalate that whatsoever.”
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