July 28, 2025: Donald Trump presidency news

Our live coverage of Donald Trump’s presidency has ended for the day. Follow the latest updates or read through the posts below.

The Trump administration will allow federal workers to promote their religious beliefs to colleagues, display religious items at work, and pray together or individually, according to a memorandum issued Monday by the Office of Personnel Management.

The guidance, from OPM Director Scott Kupor, declares that federal agencies “should allow personal religious expression by Federal employees to the greatest extent possible unless such expression would impose an undue hardship on business operations.”

Federal workers will also be able to invite each other to religious services or pray in groups at the office when not on duty. Other examples of permitted religious activities listed by OPM state that a park ranger leading a tour through a national park is allowed to pray with a tour group or a doctor working at a Veterans Affairs hospital may pray over a patient. Workers may also display religious items on their desks.

In a news release, Kupor said the idea is to make the federal workplace “not just compliant … but welcoming to Americans of all faiths.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks during a press conference on July 10 in Rome, Italy.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday hailed Donald Trump’s “determination” after the US president said he was reducing his deadline for Russia to agree a peace deal with Ukraine.

Zelensky added that Ukraine will work with the United States to make “both our countries safer, stronger, and more prosperous.”

Earlier on Monday, Trump said that he was reducing the 50-day deadline he had previously given to Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree a peace deal with Ukraine to “10 to 12 days.”

Andriy Yermak, Zelensky’s chief of staff, said previously that Trump was “standing firm and delivering a clear message of peace through strength.”

While President Donald Trump continues his visit to Scotland, it’s been a busy start to the week in the nation’s capital.

Catch up on some of our latest stories from Monday and ones you may have missed over the weekend:

• Planned Parenthood funding: A federal judge in Boston has widened her block on the Trump administration’s ability to enforce a provision of the president’s sweeping domestic policy law that would defund Planned Parenthood’s health care services.

• SNAP recipients: Twenty states are suing the Trump administration, alleging that the Department of Agriculture is improperly attempting to gather sensitive personal information of low-income families across the country who use food stamps.

• Epstein accomplice: Ghislaine Maxwell, the former girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein, urged the Supreme Court on Monday to take up her pending appeal and overturn her sex-trafficking conviction, claiming she was covered by an agreement Epstein made with federal authorities that shielded her from prosecution.

• DOJ whistleblower: Another whistleblower has made claims to the Justice Department’s watchdog that Emil Bove — a top agency official who is now nominated for a judgeship — suggested others in the department could ignore court orders during a contentious legal battle in an immigration case.

• Fact check: Trump over the weekend called for the prosecution of superstar Beyoncé — based on something that did not happen. Trump claimed in a social media post that Beyoncé broke the law by supposedly getting paid $11 million for her endorsement of Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris during an October event in Houston. But there is no basis for Trump’s claim. Read CNN’s fact check here.

• Qatari plane: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and his Qatari counterpart have signed an agreement outlining the terms of Qatar’s “unconditional donation” of a Boeing jet to the Pentagon, confirming that the US will pay nothing to Qatar for the plane, according to a copy of the memorandum of understanding reviewed by CNN.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Monday that each new ultimatum US President Donald Trump gives Moscow is a “step towards war” — not between Russia and Ukraine, but “with his own country.”

“Trump’s playing the ultimatum game with Russia: 50 days or 10,” Medvedev, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, posted on X.

Earlier on Monday, Trump announced that he was reducing the 50-day deadline he had previously given to Putin to agree a peace deal with Ukraine to “10 to 12 days,” saying he was “disappointed” with the Russian leader.

Medvedev added in his post that Trump should remember two things: One, that Russia “isn’t Israel or even Iran,” and two, that “each new ultimatum is a threat and a step towards war. Not between Russia and Ukraine, but with his own country.”

US President Donald Trump and Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer board Air Force One in Glasgow, Scotland on July 28.

President Donald Trump is continuing his five-day visit to Scotland with a stop at a second Trump golf resort, traveling with family, close aides and a high-profile guest — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

The UK leader joined Trump at his resort in Turnberry on the third full day of the visit for a bilateral meeting. The two flew then together aboard Air Force One to Aberdeen for a fuller private engagement.

Scotland’s first minister, John Swinney, is expected to join Trump and Starmer for a dinner later in the evening, according to comments made by the two leaders during the bilateral meeting.

Also accompanying the president on this leg of the trip are his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, along with their partners, Bettina Anderson and Lara Trump, according to a list provided by the White House.

The US ambassador to the UK, Warren Stephens, and senior White House staff including adviser Stephen Miller and press secretary Karoline Leavitt were also among those in the traveling delegation.

Trump, who landed in Scotland on Friday night, is now past the halfway point of his five-day visit, a trip blending diplomacy, family and business ties to the region. Tomorrow he’ll participate in a dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremony for the opening of a second 18-hole golf course on his property in Aberdeenshire.

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch arrives for the inauguration of President Donald Trump at the US Capitol Rotunda on January 20, in Washington, DC.

President Donald Trump’s lawyers asked a judge Monday to let them depose Rupert Murdoch within the next 15 days in their lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal, according to new court filings.

They’re seeking a massively expedited deposition because Murdoch is 94 years old and, they argue, is in such ill health that he might not survive long enough or be capable of traveling to testify at an eventual trial.

It’s an aggressive move, and depositions like these are rarely granted before the judge has even considered whether the case is strong enough to proceed to trial.

Trump sued The Wall Street Journal; its parent company, Dow Jones; its owner, Murdoch; and others earlier this month in response to a story about a collection of letters gifted to Jeffrey Epstein in 2003, including a note bearing Trump’s name and an outline of a naked woman.

The newspaper has stood by its reporting, and all defendants deny wrongdoing.

President Donald Trump on Monday credited his involvement for a ceasefire agreement between Cambodia and Thailand and said he’s instructing his team to restart trade negotiations with the two nations.

“I have instructed my Trade Team to restart negotiations on Trade,” he added. Over the weekend, Trump said he told the leaders he wouldn’t make a trade deal with the countries “unless you settle the war.”

Speaking during a bilateral meeting with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer earlier Monday, Trump took credit for the diplomatic breakthrough.

“We solved that war — you probably saw it just — came out over the wire, so we solved it through trade. I said, ‘I don’t want to trade with anybody that’s killing each other,’ so we just got that one solved,” he said.

The ceasefire comes following days of clashes across the two countries’ disputed border.

Vice President JD Vance sought to distance the Trump administration from continued fallout over its handling of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, saying President Donald Trump wants “full transparency” and that former Presidents Joe Biden, Barack Obama and George W. Bush “concealed this case.”

The vice president added that he talks to Attorney General Pam Bondi “all the time” and that she is “hard at work on that issue right now.”

Vance instead took aim at the Obama and Bush administrations, which he said went “easy on” Epstein, calling the disgraced financier “a scumbag pedophile.”

“They didn’t fully investigate the case, they didn’t show any curiosity about the case, and now Donald J. Trump is asking his Department of Justice to show full transparency, and somehow that’s a criticism of Donald J. Trump and not Barack Obama and George W. Bush,” Vance said.

Under Bush, US Attorney Alex Acosta — who later served in Trump’s first administration as Labor secretary — declined to prosecute Epstein in the 2000s, allowing him to avoid federal charges at the time. Epstein served 13 months in prison for state prostitution charges concerning his sexual involvement with underaged girls.

Vice President JD Vance speaks at the Metallus plant on Monday, July 28, in Canton, Ohio.

Vice President JD Vance told reporters Monday that he has seen the “heartbreaking” images of starvation in Gaza, and that Israel has “got to do more” to let aid in.

President Donald Trump said earlier Monday that the US will set up “food centers” in Gaza to address the starvation and malnutrition crisis. Trump — who has largely blamed Hamas for the delay in distributing aid to civilians in Gaza — acknowledged Israel “has a lot of responsibility” for limiting aid to the region.

Some key context: An internal US government review found no evidence of widespread theft by Hamas of US-funded humanitarian aid in Gaza, contradicting the State Department’s claims that were used to justify backing a controversial private organization that took over aid distribution in the enclave. “There was no indication that there was a systemic loss due to Hamas interference or theft or diversion,” a source familiar with the report told CNN.

Ukraine welcomed President Donald Trump’s announcement on Monday that he was reducing the 50-day deadline he had given to Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree a peace deal with Ukraine to “10 to 12 days.”

Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said Trump was “standing firm and delivering a clear message of peace through strength.”

“@POTUS has already said he’s shortening the timeline he gave Putin, because he believes the answer is obvious. Putin respects only power — and that message is loud and clear,” Yermak said on X, adding: “When America leads with strength, others think twice.”

Some context: “There’s no reason in waiting,” Trump told reporters while speaking alongside UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer at his golf resort in Turnberry, Scotland, reiterating his threat to Putin that he would slap secondary sanctions on countries that do business with Russia if the deadline is missed.

US President Donald Trump reacts as he meets with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at Trump Turnberry on July 28 in Turnberry, Scotland.

President Donald Trump continued to try to put distance between himself and Jeffrey Epstein, telling reporters he never drew a woman in a reported birthday greeting, never visited Epstein’s island and that he cut ties with the disgraced financier after an “inappropriate” incident.

His extensive responses to reporters during a bilateral meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer underscored how Trump hasn’t been able to shake questions about Epstein, even during an international trip.

Asked broadly about the Epstein scandal, Trump said he was “not overly interested in it,” describing ongoing fallout over a memo released by the Justice Department and FBI as a “hoax that’s been built up way beyond proportion.” The president indicated that if there was any incriminating or salacious information about his relationship with Epstein, Democrats “would have released it.”

Trump disavowed a recent Wall Street Journal report about a 2003 birthday greeting to Epstein that included Trump’s signature and a drawing of a naked woman. He said “I don’t do drawings.”

“Sometimes people would say, ‘Would you do a building?’ And I’ll draw four lines and a little roof, you know, for a charity. But I’m not a drawing person. I don’t do drawings of women — that I can tell you. They say there’s a drawing of a woman, and I don’t do drawings of women,” the president said, his lengthiest response on the matter since the Wall Street Journal report.

The president also weighed in on his decision to cut ties with Epstein long before the financier faced criminal charges.

“For years, I wouldn’t talk to Jeffrey Epstein. I wouldn’t talk — because he did something that was inappropriate. He hired help, and I said, ‘Don’t ever do that again.’ He stole people that work for me. I said, ‘Don’t ever do that again.’ He did it again, and I threw him out of the place, persona non grata. I threw him out, and that was it. I’m glad I did,” he said.

Trump also emphasized that he “never went to the island,” referring to Epstein’s private Caribbean island. Trump and Epstein’s relationship dates back to the 1980s and included regular appearances at social events.

President Donald Trump again didn’t rule out pardoning Ghislaine Maxwell, saying on Monday that he’s allowed to grant clemency to the convicted Jeffrey Epstein associate.

“Well, I’m allowed to give her a pardon, but nobody’s approached me with it,” Trump said during a bilateral meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Scotland on Monday.

“Nobody’s asked me about it. It’s in the news,” he added. “But right now, it would be inappropriate to talk about it.”

Trump also said he was “not overly interested” in the Epstein case, which has riled up his base as some influential MAGA voices push for more transparency after his administration previously promised to release the Epstein files.

Asked Friday about a pardon for Maxwell — who met with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche for two days last week — Trump said, “It’s something I haven’t thought about,” while adding, “I’m allowed to do it.”

A Palestinian carries a bag with aid supplies that entered Gaza through Israel, in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip on July 27.

President Donald Trump told reporters traveling with him in Turnberry, Scotland, on Monday that the US will set up “food centers” in Gaza to address the ongoing starvation and malnutrition crisis amid Israel’s aid blockade.

Trump, who has largely blamed Hamas for the delay in distributing aid to civilians in Gaza, acknowledged Israel “has a lot of responsibility,” for limiting aid to the region, but again called for Hamas to release the hostages still held in Gaza to ease negotiations, warning Israel could escalate its campaign in the enclave.

“[Hamas] did horrible things on October 7th, and the hostages are a shield — and I said, you know, you’re going to get down a number, and the number is going to be at a point where you’re not going to be able to get them back, unless you’re going to be very energetic,” Trump said. “Or to put it a different way, unless you’re going to be very ruthless and violent.”

The president also broke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s weekend assertion that there is “no starvation in Gaza.”

“That’s real starvation stuff,” Trump said. “I see it, and you can’t fake that. So, we’re going to be even more involved.”

In his comments Monday, Trump acknowledged the challenges that have come with distributing food to Palestinians in Gaza, referencing images of Gazans lining up for aid.

“You know, you’ve seen the areas where they actually have food, and the people are screaming for the food in there — they’re 35, 40 yards away, and they won’t let them because they have lines that are set up,” Trump said, adding, “We have to get rid of those lines, but we’re going to be getting some good, strong food. We can save a lot of people.”

US President Donald Trump meets with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at Trump Turnberry on July 28 in Turnberry, Scotland.

President Donald Trump said Monday he is reducing the 50-day deadline he had given to Russian President Vladimir Putin to 10 to 12 days to agree to a peace deal with Ukraine.

“Yeah, I’m going to make a new deadline of about 10 or 12 days from today,” Trump told reporters while speaking alongside UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer from his golf resort in Turnberry, Scotland.

“There’s no reason in waiting,” the president added. “I want to be generous but we just don’t see any progress being made.”

Trump also renewed his threat to Putin on secondary tariffs, saying, “And it would be sanctions and maybe tariffs, secondary tariffs.” The president added, “I don’t want to do that to Russia.”

“You would think based on common sense, you would think you’d want to make a deal,” Trump said referring to the Russian president. “I guess we’ll find out.”

Speaking earlier, Trump said he was going to reduce the 50 days he had given Putin “to a lesser number, because I think I already know the answer.”

“We thought we had that settled numerous times, and then President Putin goes out and starts launching rockets into some city like Kyiv and kills a lot of people in a nursing home or whatever,” Trump said earlier Monday.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer looks on as President Donald Trump speaks with to the press in Turnberry, Scotland, on Monday.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the British public are “revolted” by images of people starving in Gaza, urging that more be done to get aid into the enclave.

“It’s a humanitarian crisis. It’s an absolute catastrophe. Nobody wants to see that. And I think people in Britain are revolted at what they’re seeing on their screens,” Starmer said Monday alongside US President Donald Trump at his golf resort in Turnberry, Scotland.

Starmer thanked Trump for leading efforts to reach a ceasefire in Gaza, but stressed the need to funnel more aid to its starving population.

The prime minister said Britain was working with Jordan on arranging aid drops into Gaza, while trucks carrying aid still face complex logistical impediments imposed by Israel. “This is a desperate situation,” Starmer said.

Starmer is facing mounting pressure from within his Labour party to take a tougher line on Israel, made more acute after French President Emmanuel Macron announced France will recognize a Palestinian state in September, becoming the first G7 country to do so.

You can follow CNN’s live coverage on the crisis in Gaza here.

President Donald Trump speaks to the press as he meets with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Turnberry, Scotland, on Monday.

President Donald Trump said Monday that he is disappointed in Russian President Vladimir Putin and that he was reducing the 50-day deadline he gave Russia over its war in Ukraine.

“I’m disappointed in President Putin, very disappointed in him,” Trump told reporters, alongside British Prime Minister Keir Starmer ahead of their meeting in Scotland.

“I’m going to reduce that 50 days that I gave him to a lesser number.”

Trump said he has spoken with Putin a lot, adding: “We’ve had discussions.”

The US president announced two weeks ago he had given Putin 50 days to reach a deal with Ukraine before facing any consequences.

“We’re going to be doing very severe tariffs if we don’t have a deal in 50 days,” Trump had said. “Tariffs at about 100%, you’d call them secondary tariffs. You know what that means.”

President Donald Trump speaks to the press alongside British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his wife Victoria Starmer in Turnberry, Scotland, on Monday.

President Donald Trump told reporters in Scotland that the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza is “one of the main reasons” for his meeting Monday with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, pushing back against comments from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the weekend that there is “no starvation” in the enclave.

Asked if he agreed with Netanyahu’s comments, Trump said, “I don’t know – I mean, based on television, I would say not particularly, because those children look very hungry, but we’re giving a lot of money and a lot of food, and other nations are now stepping up.”

But he declined to go as far as Starmer, who has said recognition of Palestinian state would be one of many “concrete steps” to a lasting peace between Israel and Hamas, indicating he was focused on addressing what he called the “humanitarian aspects,” of the crisis.

The president — who in recent days has called for Israel to “finish the job” in Gaza —acknowledged the challenges a potential ceasefire deal still faces, telling reporters that Hamas is using the dwindling numbers of hostages still held as a “shield.”

“I always said, when you get down to the final 20, they won’t release them, because that’s like their shield — very unfair, and so something’s going to have to be done,” Trump said. “And they were really unwilling to talk, but I’ve said that we’ll get down to the final 10 or 20 … I said they’re not going to be dealing with us. And you know, many of the hostages are now dead.”

Still, he indicated he believed “ceasefire is possible.”

“We’re going to be talking inside about very much about Gaza and the humanitarian aspects of Gaza,” he said, before heading to meet with Starmer.

President Donald Trump is greeted by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Turnberry, Scotland, on Monday.

President Donald Trump greeted UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his wife Victoria at Trump’s golf course in Turnberry, Scotland.

To the tune of bagpipes being played live in the background, the president took some questions from reporters.

The US president spoke about how good the country’s relationship with the UK is and said the two leaders will be speaking about trade among other things.

“We want to make the prime minister happy,” Trump said.

Fresh from announcing the framework of a trade agreement with the European Union, Trump said earlier that he expected Starmer would also be pleased.

“The prime minister of the UK, while he’s not involved in this, will be very happy because you know, there’s a certain unity that’s been brought there, too,” Trump told reporters.

France's Prime Minister Francois Bayrou looks on during a session at the French National Assembly in Paris in March.

France’s prime minister criticized a trade agreement reached on Sunday between the European Union and United States, calling it a “dark day” for Europe.

“It is a dark day when an alliance of free peoples, gathered to assert their values and defend their interests, resolves to submission,” François Bayrou wrote in a post on X on Monday.

While some European leaders welcomed the agreement — a framework for a future trade deal that set a tariff of 15% on most EU imports into the US — others expressed their dismay.

Belgium’s Prime Minister Bart De Wever said Sunday’s deal was a “moment of relief but not of celebration.”

“I sincerely hope the United States will, in due course, turn away again from the delusion of protectionism and once again embrace the value of free trade – a cornerstone of shared prosperity,” he wrote on X on Sunday.

Bernd Lange, chair of the European Parliament’s trade committee, called the deal “not satisfactory” in a post on X Sunday.

“This is a lopsided deal,” he wrote. “Concessions have clearly been made that are difficult to accept.”