The former U.K. ambassador to Washington was sacked for remaining friends with the sex offender after his indictment.
LONDON — Britain’s sacked Ambassador to the United States Peter Mandelson was in contact with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as late as 2016, documents released by U.S. lawmakers Wednesday showed.
Mandelson was removed as the U.K.’s man in Washington in September after leaked emails showed his friendship with Epstein continued into 2008 — after Epstein was indicted for soliciting a minor.
Emails released by the U.S. House of Representatives Oversight and Government Reform Committee Wednesday show that the pair were still communicating in 2016.
An email from Epstein to Mandelson on Nov. 6, 2016 says “63 years old. You made it,” a reference to Mandelson’s birthday two weeks earlier.
Mandelson responded less than half an hour later: “Just. I have decided to extend my life by spending more of it in the U.S.” Epstein replied: “In the Donald White House.” To which Mandelson said: “What’s the Donald White House? And how are you?”
Epstein also wrote that Mandelson was “right about staying away from Andrew,” an apparent reference to the former Duke of York who has become embroiled in scandal over his own links to Epstein.
The Labour peer responded: “Yes, without Andrew it would not have gone nuclear.”
Ahead of his sacking, Mandelson said he regretted “very, very deeply indeed carrying on that association with [Epstein] for far longer than I should have done.”