Trump faces ‘pardon’ questions over Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, as he jets off to Scotland

Saturday, 26 July 2025

The US president took questions on the tarmac shortly after landing in Scotland and told reporters he has two messages for Europe: Stop building windmills and curb immigration.

US President Donald Trump has told reporters while arriving in Scotland that he does not “know anything about the conversation” between Jeffrey Epstein’s imprisoned former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell, and deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.

“A lot of people are asking me about pardons. Obviously, this is no time to be talking about pardons,” Trump said after landing in Scotland on a four-night trip until Tuesday.

He had said prior to departing on Friday (NZT Saturday) that he “hasn’t thought about” pardoning Maxwell.

“You’re making a very big thing over something that’s not a big thing,” Trump told reporters on the tarmac.

He said the media should be focused on other people with alleged links to Epstein, adding, “Don’t talk about Trump.”

The reporters’ questions arose after Maxwell had faced an interview with the US Department of Justice over her imprisonment three years ago when she was sentenced for helping Epstein sexually abuse under-age girls.

American real estate developer Donald Trump and his girlfriend (and future wife), former model Melania Knauss, Jeffrey Epstein, and British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell pose together at the Mar-a-Lago club, Palm Beach, Florida, on February 12, 2000.

She was in the process of appealing her conviction, based on the government's pledge years ago that any potential Epstein co-conspirators would not be charged, her attorney David Oscar Markus said on Thursday (NZT Friday) following the hearing.

During the reporter questioning of the president on Friday (NZT Saturday), Trump also said he “was never involved” in Republican House leadership adjourning for a lengthy vacation amid clamour for a vote to release documents in the Epstein case.

“I’m not focused on conspiracy theories that you are,” Trump said.

Trump will be in Scotland until Tuesday, and plans to talk trade with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen while in Great Britain.

White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers called the Scotland swing a “working trip”. On August 13 a new golf course bearing his name, Trump International Scotland, was set to open there.

The new golf course in Aberdeenshire was billed as “the greatest 36 holes in golf”.