Donald Trump took a golf getaway Saturday as reports emerged that several Americans had been injured in a missile attack on a Kuwaiti air base.
The 79-year-old president was spotted admiring work on his vanity projects while departing the White House, and he arrived at Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia, at approximately 11:08 a.m. on Saturday, according to the White House press pool. Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported that several Americans were injured in an Iranian attack as negotiations to end the war appeared to be going nowhere.
The Iranian ballistic missile strike was intercepted, but falling debris caused minor injuries in approximately five people, among them contractors and military service members, the outlet reported. Two MQ-9 Reaper strike drones were also reportedly damaged.
The Daily Beast has reached out to U.S. Central Command for comment.
The president’s golf trip came after a key meeting on the war launched by the U.S. and Israel on Feb. 28. Trump has since spent weeks claiming he is close to a deal with Iran.
On Friday, Trump left a two-hour meeting without deciding whether to pursue an extended ceasefire, a senior administration official told The New York Times, despite having suggested on social media that he intended to make a “final determination” during the discussion.
On Wednesday, the U.S. launched fresh strikes against Iran just days after Trump suggested that a breakthrough deal was near.
The Defense Department says 409 U.S. troops have been injured in the war so far, and 13 U.S. service members have been killed. The conflict has also deepened America’s affordability crisis, as a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has driven up oil prices.
Yet, despite criticism from some of his own MAGA allies urging the president to “finish the job,” Trump has shown little public acknowledgment of the Americans serving on the front lines, nor does he appear to have contributed to any tangible progress in the negotiations.
During his trip for a physical examination at Walter Reed Military Medical Center on Tuesday, the president did not visit any of the 14 troops injured in the Iran war, according to CBS News.
Still, Trump maintains that he wants the U.S. “to lose very few” military members fighting in Iran, while also declaring, “war is war.”
That Trump went to play golf when American troops were in harm’s way is not the only controversy surrounding the president’s frequent taxpayer-funded visits to the golf course.
After Trump hosted a LIV Golf event at his Virginia golf course earlier this month and attended the PGA Tour’s Cadillac Championship at Trump National Doral in Miami, ethics experts raised concerns about him hosting major tournaments at his own clubs while the financial benefits to his family remain unclear, according to CNN.
A new $1.5 billion leisure development in Vietnam by the Trump Organization is reportedly set to be built on a burial site. The Financial Times reported that in Chau Ninh commune, Hung Yen province, land clearance has already begun, with graves being removed and bodies exhumed ahead of construction of the new golf course.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
