Mandelson denies seeing girls at Epstein properties, refuses apology
In his first interview since being dismissed as the UK’s ambassador to the US over his ties to Epstein, Mandelson told a news agency he believed he had been “kept separate” from the sexual aspects of the financier’s life because of his sexuality. He said the only individuals he encountered at Epstein’s residences were “middle-aged housekeepers.”
Mandelson was removed from his post after emails surfaced showing supportive messages he sent to Epstein following the latter’s conviction for soliciting prostitution from a minor.
Pressed on whether he would apologise to victims for maintaining the friendship after Epstein’s 2008 conviction, Mandelson responded: “I want to apologise to those women for a system that refused to hear their voices and did not give them the protection they were entitled to expect. That system gave him protection and not them.”
He added: “If I had known, if I was in any way complicit or culpable, of course I would apologise for it. But I was not culpable, I was not knowledgeable of what he was doing.”
Reflecting further, Mandelson said: “I regret and will regret to my dying day the fact that powerless women, women who were denied a voice, were not given the protection they were entitled to expect.”
Epstein, a wealthy financier with extensive connections, died in a New York prison cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. He had previously been convicted in 2008 and registered as a sex offender.
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