US President Donald Trump (C-R) and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (C-L) speak during a meeting, in Turnberry south west Scotland, on July 27, 2025
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/Getty Images
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BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/Getty Images
US President Donald Trump (C-R) and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (C-L) speak during a meeting, in Turnberry south west Scotland, on July 27, 2025
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/Getty Images
President Trump traveled to Scotland to talk trade with the EU and play golf. But as soon as he landed he was asked about Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender.
The pressure on the Trump administration has continued to intensify over its handling of the Epstein files, and who-knew-what-when. Pressure that’s also coming from within his party.
And as those calls have ramped up, so has messaging from the administration about a range of other issues, including a rehashing of the 2016 election, and Russia’s involvement in it. Trump has lobbed serious claims, like treason, at former President Obama.
To get at why these two complicated and dated stories are intersecting and to understand what we can learn from it about the president’s governing style, NPR’s Scott Detrow speaks with NPR senior political editor and correspondent Domenico Montanaro and cybersecurity correspondent Jenna McLaughlin.
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