Trump Organization formally asks Aberdeenshire Council to seize four Menie families' homes

On 4 March 2009, the Trump Organisation's planning agents, Dundas and Wilson, formally asked Aberdeenshire Council to use its compulsory-purchase powers to acquire land the Menie estate golf-resort project did not control — including four family homes whose owners had refused to sell: Mill of Menie, Menie Fishing Station, Hermit Point and Leyton Cottage. The date of the formal request is documented in correspondence later released by Hermit Point resident David Milne, who said 'the letters show quite clearly that a formal request for compulsory purchase orders to be used was made on March 4, 2009, and was the result of some considerable prior discussion.' Aberdeenshire Council publicly confirmed in July 2009 that the Trump Organization had made the compulsory-purchase request in March 2009. Trump later denied ever seeking the orders, telling the Press and Journal in 2011 that 'we have not, and will not, request that Aberdeenshire Council use their CPO powers to purchase houses' — a claim Milne and other campaigners rejected by pointing to the released letter.