President Donald Trump is headed to Scotland on July 25, where he is expected to meet with the British Prime Minister and visit his golf resorts.
This trip precludes a more elaborate formal state visit in the fall. His first major trip abroad during this presidency was a tour of the Middle East in May, and he has since attended the G7 Summit in Canada and the NATO Summit in the Netherlands.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, according to Reuters, that the trip would be a “working visit that will include a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Starmer to refine the historic U.S.-U.K. trade deal.”
But the trip comes amid weeks-long controversy over Jeffrey Epstein. The Trump administration has been pushed by Republicans and Democrats alike to be more transparent about the late financier indicted on sex trafficking charges. That controversy appears to be following him abroad already. Here is what to know:
Is Trump in the Epstein files? Before Bondi’s reported alert, here is where he appeared
Why is Donald Trump going to Scotland?
Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer are expected to continue to talk trade after the U.K. was the first to reach an agreement following the Liberation Day tariffs. The U.K., the U.S.’ ninth-largest trading partner, originally faced a 10% universal baseline tariff on exports to the U.S., but the deal lowered the rate on automobiles and steel.
But the president is also expected to visit his golf courses in Scotland: Trump Turnberry and Trump International Scotland. The Trump International Scotland resort is poised to open a second golf course next month. The resort includes buildings bearing the name of Trump’s mother, Mary Anne MacLeod, who emigrated from Scotland to New York in the 1930s.
The National Scottish paper goes viral for front page
Tomorrow’s front page📰
Convicted US felon to arrive in Scotland pic.twitter.com/EEwAZaPXgC
— The National (@ScotNational) July 24, 2025
As Trump heads overseas, people in Scotland are planning to protest. U.K.-based group Stop Trump Coalition has a few demonstrations planned, as they did when Trump visited in his first term.
One local paper, The National, ran a front page story on July 25 that was a pointed announcement of Trump’s arrival.
“Convicted US Felon to Arrive in Scotland,” the headline reads, with Trump’s scouring eyes from his new presidential portrait peering over the words.
Trump was found guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records in May 2024, a historic development for a former president who would win the election months later. In the hush money case where Trump was found guilty, he received an “unconditional discharge” sentence, meaning he received no prison time or probation.
Though calling someone a “felon” is considered outdated language, Trump’s felony conviction has not yet been erased through appeal or expungement.
Trump’s Epstein woes follow him abroad, WSJ banned from trip
Trump’s trip to Scotland comes as controversy over the Epstein files continues to roil the administration. People in the U.K. aren’t letting him forget it either. A social media video posted by Everyone Hates Elon, a group “pissing off billionaires one small action at a time,” showed a sign placed under the Trump International Golf Links sign.
“Twinned with Epstein island,” the sign read, according to the video.
On July 17, the Wall Street Journal reported on a birthday letter from Trump to Epstein, prompting Trump to sue the newspaper and the reporters, as he called the story “false, malicious, and defamatory.” NBC News and POLITICO reported that the White House later removed the Journal from the group of outlets that is traveling with Trump to Scotland.
But that didn’t stop the Journal from later reporting, along with CNN, that Attorney General Pam Bondi told Trump in May that he was mentioned in the criminal case files. Bondi’s Justice Department on July 7 released a memo saying no further disclosure of the documents was needed after teasing a “truckload” of Epstein files in March. (Being named in the files does not indicate wrongdoing.)
As Trump heads over the pond, a senior Justice Department official and Epstein’s co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell, are meeting for a second day.
Contributing: Zac Anderson, USA TODAY
Kinsey Crowley is the Trump Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at kcrowley@gannett.com. Follow her on X and TikTok @kinseycrowley or Bluesky at @kinseycrowley.bsky.social.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Why is Trump going to Scotland? National newspaper calls him ‘felon’
