Trump golfs in Scotland as Epstein questions persist

By Andrea Shalal

EDINBURGH, Scotland (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump kept a low profile on his Scottish golf course on Saturday, ahead of meetings with top British and European leaders, as questions swirled at home about his ties to disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Trump arrived in Scotland on Friday, with hundreds of people on hand to watch the arrival in Glasgow of Air Force One, the presidential aircraft.

He told reporters that he will visit his two golf properties in Scotland - one in Turnberry on the west coast where he is playing on Saturday and the other near Aberdeen. He is also due to meet British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Scottish leader John Swinney and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, whom he called a "highly respected woman".

Frustrated by continued questions about his administration's handling of investigative files related to Epstein's criminal charges and his 2019 death in prison, Trump told reporters to focus on bigger issues and other people.

"You make it a very big thing over something that's not a big thing," Trump said. "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."

Trump was spotted on the golf course on Saturday morning, but had no public events in his schedule. Reporters and supporters were kept away by enhanced security. Protests were expected in Aberdeen and Edinburgh, hundreds of miles away.

The White House said Trump was golfing on Saturday with his son, Eric Trump, and the U.S. ambassador to Britain, Warren Stephens, and his son. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was also on the course.

White House officials hope some time out of the limelight will allow the Epstein controversy to die down, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Trump bought the Turnberry property, which includes a hotel and golf course, for $60 million in 2014, in the hope of returning the course to the rotation for the Open Championship, but said his visit was "not about that". 

Turnberry has been the site of the golf major four times, the most recent being in 2009. It has not hosted the event since then, amid concerns about the lack of accommodation and infrastructure for an event that draws hundreds of thousands.

Trump will travel in coming days to his property near Aberdeen, where he will open a second course named after his mother, Mary Anne MacLeod, who was born and raised on a Scottish island before emigrating to the United States.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal in Edinburgh and Steve Holland in Washington; Editing by Sharon Singleton)