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Days before President Trump heads to the United Kingdom for a state visit, the U.K. has fired its ambassador to the U.S. over links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. NPR's Lauren Frayer reports from London.
LAUREN FRAYER, BYLINE: Even after Jeffrey Epstein was indicted, Peter Mandelson, then a top center-left British politician, wrote him a 2008 email saying, quote, "your friends stay with you and love you." "I think the world of you," he wrote in another. But in an interview with British media before his ouster as ambassador, Mandelson said he now sees Epstein as...
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PETER MANDELSON: Charismatic, criminal liar, we now see. And I regret very much indeed - and it - I felt it like a - like an albatross around my neck.
FRAYER: Photos have also emerged of Mandelson in a bathrobe at Epstein's home and in an infamous Epstein birthday book, which includes a drawing of a woman's body that President Trump denies penning. There's also a message from Mandelson calling Epstein his best pal. Mandelson has said more embarrassing details could still come out, but Prime Minister Keir Starmer has apparently decided not to wait for those. Here's Foreign Office Minister Stephen Doughty on the floor of Parliament this morning.
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STEPHEN DOUGHTY: In light of additional information in the emails written by Peter Mandelson, the prime minister has asked the foreign secretary to withdraw him as ambassador to the United States.
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FRAYER: In a statement, the Foreign Office singles out one of Mandelson's emails, in which he lamented Epstein's first conviction for soliciting sex from a minor. Mandelson called it wrongful and said it should be challenged. Mandelson is known in U.K. politics as a behind-the-scenes spin doctor for the center-left Labour Party, earning him the nickname Prince of Darkness. In 2001, he famously called himself a fighter, not a quitter, and he was seen as someone who could build bridges with the Trump administration. His firing complicates those efforts now, just days before Trump arrives here for a state visit.
Lauren Frayer, NPR News, London. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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