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It’s not hard to critique Snopes’ claims.

First, this is a first person story, told by a participant, backed up by photographic evidence. And Snopes’ check of military sources confirms the basic facts. It’s basically indisputable that a plane marked “Trump” delivered these Marines home.

Snopes attack on the story is focused on the notion that Donald Trump did not, directly or indirectly, arrange for the plane to pick up and transport the marines.

Snopes’ claim that Trump did not arrange for the plane is based almost entirely on the theory that Trump was no longer in control of the Trump shuttle at the time the marines were flown from Georgia to Florida. The conclusion that Trump was no longer in control is based on a single internet source—an article in the July 2015 edition of New York aviation that says this:

“In September of 1990 Trump defaulted on his loan and control of the airline went back to the banks led by Citibank. Unlike most other airlines that failed during this time period, the Shuttle was still a valuable asset given its business-oriented customer base and access to slot-controlled airports in New York and Washington.”

“Citibank put the airline up for sale, and after some lengthy negotiations with Northwest and American, settled on a deal with USAir Group.”

The statements in the article appear to me to be based on unsourced statements in a Wikipedia article about the Trump Shuttle. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump_Shuttle

So Snopes’ claim that Trump was not in control is based on the inference that since he defaulted, he was ousted from control. That is not a valid inference.

I know a bit about debtor-creditor law and bankruptcy, having practiced assisting a bankruptcy trustee. Normally, the mere fact of default would not lead to an instantaneous transfer of control over an asset like this to a creditor bank.

What I would expect to see is a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in response to default, followed by negotiations between the debtor and creditor. In a chapter 11 bankruptcy, the creditor retains control of the business and its assets, unless the Court orders otherwise.

I would also expect the creditor would WANT Trump to continue to run the airline for a time, until it had found someone else qualified to do so, in order to best preserve the value associated with the asset, an operating business.

In fact, looking for CONTEMPORANEOUS reporting on the Trump Shuttle, I found this: http://www.nytimes.com/1991/12/20/business/deal-made-on-trump-shuttle.html

That article makes it perfectly clear that something like what I would expect to have occurred had in fact occurred after the default, and that in December 1991—more than 6 months after the Trump plain flew these marines from Georgia to Florida-TRUMP WAS STILL IN CONTROL OF THE OPERATIONS OF THE TRUMP SHUTTLE.

Snopes goes on to say suggest that the Trump Shuttle had contracted with the US government to ferry troops, citing the recollection of a retired general. The contract itself has not been produced, so we don’t have the best evidence of what it provided. But the general himself is reported as only recalling it provided for the ferrying of troops from the east to the west coast.

What I think can be fairly said is that some of the details surrounding this story could stand to be further verified. But Snopes’ claim to have debunked the story is, itself, BUNK!