JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
President Trump is returning from a four-day trip to Scotland, where he mixed in some personal time and diplomacy. Between rounds of golf at his courses in Turnberry and Aberdeen, Trump packed in meetings with European leaders. Despite being an ocean away, Trump could not escape the political drama back in Washington over his administration's handling of the files of the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. NPR White House correspondent Franco Ordoñez is traveling with President Trump and has this report.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Hello, everybody.
FRANCO ORDOÑEZ, BYLINE: When he landed in Scotland, President Trump touted the important meetings he would have with the British prime minister and European Union chief, while blasting reporters for fixating on the controversy.
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TRUMP: I'm focused on making deals. I'm not focused on conspiracy theories that you are. I mean, I watch you people. It's so sad. You ought to talk about the success of our country instead of this nonsense you keep talking about...
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER #1: You said you...
TRUMP: ...Over and over again.
ORDOÑEZ: Trump tried to distance himself from the drama, cocooning himself away at his club in Turnberry. But as he golfed with his son, hundreds of protesters took to the streets across the country.
BETHANY REID: So I think everyone's kind of on the same page that no one's too happy.
ORDOÑEZ: That's Bethany Reid, an art student in Aberdeen. She says demonstrators are zeroing in on Trump's ties to Epstein. She noted that a van has been driving through downtown Aberdeen with a chummy image of Trump and Epstein together, ahead of his visit to the city.
REID: You know, it's a thing people are targeting against him, as they should.
ORDOÑEZ: Back at his club in Turnberry, Trump met with European Union Chief Ursula von der Leyen, clinching a last-minute trade deal just days before even higher tariffs were to go into effect.
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TRUMP: It's a very big deal. It's the biggest of all the deals.
ORDOÑEZ: Trump was asked about the timing of the announcement and whether he was trying to change the subject.
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UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER #2: Mr. President, was part of the rush to get this deal done to knock the Jeffrey Epstein story?
ORDOÑEZ: He didn't like that question.
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TRUMP: Oh, you got to be kidding me.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Laughter) God.
TRUMP: No. I have nothing to do with it. Only you would think that.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Oh, my God.
TRUMP: That had nothing to do with it.
ORDOÑEZ: Then after discussing the food crisis in Gaza with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Trump was asked to clarify his relationship with Epstein and particularly their falling-out.
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TRUMP: But for years, I wouldn't talk to Jeffrey Epstein. I wouldn't talk because he did something that was inappropriate.
ORDOÑEZ: Trump explained that Epstein hired away workers from his Mar-a-Lago estate.
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TRUMP: And I said, don't ever do that again. He stole people that work for me. I said, don't ever do that again. He did it again, and I threw him out of the place, persona non grata.
ORDOÑEZ: And while much of the pressure for more information is coming from his own MAGA base, Trump continues to insist that the controversy is a hoax that's been built up way beyond proportion by his political enemies.
Franco Ordoñez, NPR News, Turnberry, Scotland.
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SUMMERS: On Air Force One, on the way back from Scotland, Franco had the chance to press the president for more information. He asked if those workers that Epstein hired were young women who worked at the Mar-a-Lago spa. Trump said they were.
TRUMP: When I heard about it, I told him, I said, listen, we don't want you taking our people, whether it was spa or not spa. I don't want him taking people. And he was fine. And then, not too long after that, he did it again, and I said, out of here.
SUMMERS: That is President Trump responding to NPR's Franco Ordoñez on Air Force One earlier today.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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