A on-the-record press conference by President Trump (July 25, 2025) upon arrival at Prestwick, Scotland, ahead of engagements in Turnberry and Aberdeen. He discusses upcoming meetings with the European Union (including Ursula von der Leyen) and the UK Prime Minister, characterizes an EU–US deal as roughly '50/50' with many unspecified sticking points, and speaks about Gaza, blaming Hamas and deferring to Israel for response. He alsocriticizes European immigration policy and renewable 'windmills' (wind turbines), saying they harm landscapes and wildlife.
Chapters
Hello, everybody. You know, our ambassador to Scotland, and it's great to be in Scotland. We are going to be meeting with the Prime Minister, I guess, tomorrow a little bit tomorrow and the next day, and we're going to do some great things. Do you have any questions?
Meeting with Ursula.
I'll be meeting with the EU on Sunday and we'll be working on a deal. We'll see if we make a deal. Ursula will be here. Highly respected woman. So we look forward to that. That'll be good. What media executives are you meeting with while you're here? We'll have numerous executives that we're meeting with a lot of. We're going to be meeting with a lot of people. A lot of people will be staying at Turnberry and then we're going Aberdeen, which is the oil capital of Europe, actually.
Mr. President, can you explain what is kind of what is missing in the.
UK deal that you have to work out? Nothing. We just. I think it's more of a celebration than a workout. It's a great deal for both. And we're going to have a meeting on other things other than the deal. The deal is concluded.
So, on Gaza, French President Emmanuel Macron just said that France will officially recognize the Palestinian state. What's your comment?
Well, that's what he does. I mean, you know, he. That's fine. If he does that. That's up to him. It's not up to me. I'm with the United States, I'm not with France.
And about the humanitarian situation in Gaza, we see a very dire warning.
I think it's terrible what happened with Hamas. They tapped everybody along and we'll see what happens. We'll see what response Israel has to that. But it's getting to be that time.
On the EU deal, you said there's a 50, 50 chance of a deal. What is left to work out?
What are the final sticking points with the European Union? I think we have a good 50, 50 chance. That's a lot.
What are the sticking points?
Well, I don't want to tell you what the sticking points are, but the sticking points are having to do with maybe 20 different things. You don't want to listen to all of them. Yes.
What advice are you going to have for our Prime Minister about free speech? It's very important to people here.
Well, it is, but I like your Prime Minister. He's slightly more liberal than, as you've probably heard, but he's a good man. He got a trade deal done and, you know, they've been working on this deal for 12 years. He got it done. It's a good deal. It's a good deal for the uk. So, no, I'll be seeing him tomorrow, I guess, tomorrow evening. And this is our wonderful ambassador. As you know, he's doing a good job. He'll be. He's a very, very successful man. He'll be doing a good. It's not something you're going to ask the British Prime Minister. The best course anywhere in the world is Turnberry. The players all want to be a Turnberry. Everybody wants to be a Turnberry, so we'll see how that works. But the infrastructure needs to be improved. The infrastructure of the course is good. In fact, the Royal and Ancient. I don't know, you're aware of this. They spent a lot of money, hundreds of thousands of dollars probably into the millions of dollars, and they've laid all the wire for television, electricity under the halls of Turnberry, so that when the open gets there, they have it all done. They paid for that. But we're talking about roads, the railway station, that sort of thing. That seems like a big. I don't know what you can do. All I can tell you is that it would be the best place anywhere in your country to have. There's no place like it. There's no place like Turnbury. It's the best, probably the best course in the world. And I would say Aberdeen is right up there also. Aberdeen's great. And while we're here, I'll be with my son and he's going to cut a river ribbon for the second course at Aberdeen, which is just about equal to the first. I mean, it's going to be a battle, you know, it's. As you know, they're very highly rated. And the second course is great. Sean Connery helped get me the permits. If it weren't for Sean Connery, we wouldn't have those great courses.
Were you brief on your name appearing in the Epstein files ever?
No, I was never.
What are you hoping? What are you hoping? Todd Blanche interviewing Jalaine Maxwell. What are you hoping? Get out of that.
I really have no. Really nothing to say about it. She is being talked to by a very smart man, by a very good man, Todd Blanche. And I don't know anything about the conversation. I haven't really been following it. A lot of people are asking me about pardons. Obviously, this is no time to be talking about pardons, but a lot of people have asked about pardon. This is just not a time to be talking about pardons. Todd will with whatever he's got. And you're making a very big thing over something that's not a big thing. You should be talking about if you're going to talk about that, talk about Clinton, talk about the former president of Harvard, talk about all of his friends, talk about the hedge fund guys that were with him all the time. Don't talk about Trump. What you should be talking about is the fact that we have the greatest six months in the history of a presidency, according to a lot of people. And we had an amazing six months. This is sort of an example of it. Now we're meeting with the European Union, having, we're also meeting with, as you know, the head of UK prime minister. And I look forward to that. But we're meeting in terms of a deal. We're meeting with the European Union, and that would be actually the biggest deal of them all if we make it.
Did you ask House Republican leaders to not vote on the resolution?
I was never involved in that. I'm focused on making deals. I'm not focused on construction conspiracy theories that you are. And I watch you people. It's, it's so sad. You're to talk about the success of our country instead of this nonsense you talk about over and over again.
You've done an amazing job on illegal migration. A lot of people here are very worried about the situation. Record numbers.
Well, I say, I say two things to Europe. Stop the windmills. You're ruining your countries. I really mean it. It's so sad. You fly over and you see these windmills all over the place ruining your beautif fields and valleys and killing your birds. And if they're stuck in the ocean ruining your oceans, stop the windmills. And I also, I mean, there's a couple of things I could say, but on immigration, you better get your act together or you're not going to have Europe anymore. You got to get your act together. And we, you know, as you know, last month we had nobody entering our country. Nobody shut it down. And we took out a lot of bad people that got there with Biden. Biden was a total stiff. What he allowed to happen. But you're allowing it to happen to your countries. And you got to stop the, this horrible invasion that's happening to Europe. Many countries in Europe, some people, some leaders have not let it happen. And they're not getting the proper credit. They should. I could name them to you right now, but I'm not going to embarrass the other ones. But stop this. Immigration is killing Europe and the other thing. Stop the windmills killing the beauty of your country countries. Thank you very much, everybody.
