Epstein files trigger fallout in Europe, less so in U.S. : NPR

The contrast is striking: In Europe, some people whose names come up in the Epstein files are facing consequences — but in the U.S., not so much.

European royals, government officials, politicians and others are losing jobs and titles over their connection to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. European law enforcement agencies are opening investigations based on recent troves of documents released by the U.S. government.

Prominent Americans with apparent ties to Jeffrey Epstein — including President Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick— have so far largely kept their positions of power.

Epstein also associated with Democratic politicians and academics, including former President Bill Clinton.

While appearing in the Epstein files is not necessarily proof of wrongdoing, for Europeans, it’s been “very humiliating” to see their “rich and famous hobnobbing” with Epstein, “a fake American billionaire” and convicted sex trafficker of minors, said Richard Painter, a professor at the University of Minnesota Law School who served as the chief ethics lawyer to President George W. Bush.

But in the U.S., Painter says, the connection between money and politics can shield some of those named in the files. “You’ve got all this massive amount of money in politics. So the billionaire class is definitely going to want to be protected,” he said.

Neither the White House nor the Department of Commerce have responded to a request for comment.

In the United Kingdom, former Prince Andrew was stripped of his royal titles and forced to move out of the royal estate. That was over claims that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, as he is now known, had sex with teenage girls — which he has denied — during his visits with Epstein.

Now, with the latest release of files, the former prince faces an investigation by British police over claims he shared confidential trade information with Epstein in 2010. King Charles III, Mountbatten-Windsor’s brother, is “ready to support” investigators, Buckingham Palace said in a statement sent to news outlets this week.

Others in the U.K. have faced consequences, not for allegations of sexual misconduct, but for being too friendly with Epstein. Peter Mandelson, a prominent Labour Party figure and Britain’s ambassador to the U.S., was stripped of his position in September and resigned from the House of Lords earlier this month. He now faces a criminal investigation after new files suggest he received payments from Epstein and shared government documents.

For a while, Prime Minister Keir Starmer faced calls to step down over his continued support for Mandelson. Starmer, earlier this month, apologized to Epstein’s victims. “None of us knew the depth and darkness of that relationship,” he said of Mandelson’s ties to Epstein.

In countries such as Britain with a parliamentary system, leaders are more vulnerable to calls to resign from political opponents or even members of their own party, Painter noted, than leaders in the United States.

“Ultimately the Parliament, the legislature, calls the shots and then the members of the legislature are vulnerable to be voted down in the next election,” he said. “There’s more accountability to the public.”

Trump is somewhat insulated from political pressure

President Trump was a longtime friend of Epstein’s and appears frequently in the released documents from the late financier’s estate. Trump and the White House have both consistently denied any wrongdoing.

Still, because he is in his second term and is constitutionally prohibited from running for reelection, he is shielded from some accountability, according to Painter.

Lutnick, Trump’s billionaire commerce secretary, previously had said he had “very limited interactions” with Epstein, a New York City neighbor after visiting his townhouse in 2005. But this week, at a Senate hearing, he acknowledged that he and his family traveled to Epstein’s private island in 2012.

Painter also criticized Attorney General Pam Bondi for “selectively” releasing parts of the Epstein files, despite bipartisan legislation passed by Congress which orders a full release of the documents.

In her opening remarks at a contentious House Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday, Bondi said she was “deeply sorry for what any victim” had gone through, but she avoided apologizing directly to several of Epstein’s victims in the committee room.

Painter questioned whether the administration is releasing files that only implicate Democrats while shielding Republicans. Epstein knew Trump, a neighbor in Palm Beach, but Trump says they had a falling out before Epstein’s conviction for sex trafficking.

A few Americans have lost positions of power. Larry Summers, a former Treasury Secretary during the Clinton administration and chief economic adviser to President Obama, stepped away from his teaching position at Harvard.

Brad Karp resigned as chair of the prestigious law firm Paul Weiss. And Kathryn Ruemmler, top lawyer at Goldman Sachs, announced that she’ll resign from her job at the end of June.

Consequences spread across Europe

France’s former culture minister, Jack Lang, resigned as head of a Paris cultural center after the French Foreign Ministry sought to question him about his ties to Epstein.

Former Norwegian Prime Minister Thorbjørn Jagland, this week was charged with “gross corruption” by police there and could face up to 10 years in prison after emails showed he stayed in Epstein’s homes in New York and Florida and visited Epstein’s private island in the Caribbean. Also this month, Mona Juul resigned as Norway’s ambassador to Jordan, after revelations that Epstein left $10 million in his will to her children.

The Epstein scandal has also hit the country’s royal family. Norwegian Crown Princess Mette-Marit, the wife of Crown Prince Haakon, apologized after documents showed she vacationed in an Epstein property in Palm Beach.