Published: 12:45am, 19 Sep 2025Updated: 1:18am, 19 Sep 2025
US President Donald Trump on Thursday said he does not know the UK’s former ambassador to Washington, Peter Mandelson, who was sacked over links to paedophile and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
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Mandelson was fired by Prime Minister Keir Starmer last week when the extent of his friendship with the US financier was revealed.
There had been concerns the issue could cast a shadow on the US president’s second state visit to the UK, not least because Trump was also close to Epstein, although they fell out before his conviction in 2009.
Trump said “I don’t know him actually” when asked at a joint press conference with the British prime minister whether he had sympathy with Mandelson for being sacked over historic links to the convicted sex offender.
He continued: “I had heard that and I think maybe the prime minister would be better speaking of that. It was a choice that he made and I don’t know.”
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Turning to Starmer, Trump asked: “What is your answer to that?”
The prime minister said: “Well, I mean, it’s very straightforward. Some information came to light last week which wasn’t available when he was appointed. And I made a decision about that.”