Democrat Faces Fallout After Jeffrey Epstein Relationship Is Exposed

Former Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell has suffered a public setback over his documented connections to Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender who died in jail.

The University of Maine System Board of Trustees voted 9-5 on Monday, with one abstention, to remove Mitchell’s name from several university programs. Mitchell is a former Democratic US senator from Maine.

Mitchell, 93, represented Maine in the Senate from 1980 to 1995. He later served for years as Senate majority leader, concluding a distinguished legislative career.

His name appeared more than 300 times, including duplicate references, in files released by the Department of Justice concerning Epstein, according to the Irish Times.

In emails from August 2009, Epstein identified Mitchell as a participant in a gathering he said he planned to “fully fund.” The event took place a month after Epstein was released from prison following his guilty plea to charges that included soliciting a minor for prostitution.

An October 2014 exchange also showed Epstein’s then-assistant, Lesley Groff, asking whether he wanted her to send “the number we have for George Mitchell” to a redacted recipient.

Among the University of Maine programs slated for new names are the Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions and the George J. Mitchell Peace Scholarship.

Mitchell has said he was unaware of Epstein’s heinous sex crimes. He has never been charged with a crime connected to Epstein, whose death in jail in 2019 was ruled a suicide.

Epstein mentioned the senator shortly after his release from a Florida prison following his 2009 sex-offense conviction.

On July 28 of that year, he sent a message to a redacted individual asking that Mitchell—whose name he misspelled—be contacted by email.

“Tell them that i am free and home.. they can call the home number,” Epstein wrote.

A spokesperson for Mitchell said in February that the former senator turned down invitations from Epstein after learning about his criminal conduct, the BBC reported.

Epstein referred to Mitchell as recently as 2018, when he described him as a “very close friend.”

Mitchell also wrote a handwritten note to Epstein for a book marking the financier’s 50th birthday in 2003, according to The New York Times.

“The beginning of a new year is an appropriate time to count our blessings,” Mitchell wrote, according to the newspaper.

The Mitchell Center will temporarily be called the University of Maine Center for Sustainability Solutions, according to CentralMaine.com.

Meanwhile, the scholarship named after Mitchell will be temporarily called the University of Maine Peace Scholarship.

The university task force found that using Mitchell’s name ‘would compromise the public trust and reflect adversely upon the university and its reputation.’ However, it had not found any ‘findings of wrongdoing’ by Mitchell.

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A spokesperson for the University of Maine System told Our News Outlet that the renaming was effective immediately but that updating institutional websites, signage and other materials may take several months.

One of the board’s student members, Matthew Webber, said that students at the university felt that Mitchell getting ‘put on a pedestal’ was ‘an injustice of what they feel is almost entirely a wrong.’

‘Almost all the students of the university are in agreement of that, so to rename, I believe, is in the best interest of us as well,’ Webber said, according to the outlet.

The chair of the board, Roger Katz, called the scenario a ‘huge tragedy’ and insisted that the university needed to ‘listen to students who said there was ‘reputational damage.’

‘Whether that’s fair or not, we could talk all day about that,’ Katz said, the outlet added.

A trustee who voted against the renaming, Donna Loring, said Mitchell was ‘exemplary as far as what he’s done internationally.’

‘I think by removing his name, that also sends a message,’ Loring said, according to the outlet. ‘I think that all of his good work, and he’s done lots of good work, should not be diminished, should not be disappeared, because of unproven accusations.’

Loring added that she believed there was ‘no due process here, there’s no trial, and it goes against everything that I believe in.’

Emily Cain, a trustee who voted in favor, said she would ‘never stop being a fan’ of Mitchell’s work, particularly when it came to Northern Ireland.

‘But I also think the reality of right now is we’re not able to just talk about the work,’ Cain added, per the outlet.

As of Tuesday afternoon, a University of Maine website for the Mitchell Center still featured a photo of the former senator, but did not make any further mentions of Mitchell in its mission statement.

The website touted that the center was created to address sustainability challenges and address people’s well–being.

Mitchell had already resigned from his role as honorary chair of his scholarship funding program in February.

Program leaders said in a statement published on February 5 that ‘this is an appropriate time to initiate a thoughtful, responsible process to consider a potential name change.’

In addition to being a senator, Mitchell was also known for leading negotiations in Northern Ireland and the Middle East, having been appointed as a US Special Envoy by Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. 

A spokesperson for the University of Maine System told Our News Outlet on Tuesday that ‘nearly three-quarters of those who responded to a university and public comment solicitation from the task force requested Mitchell’s name be removed to avoid negative associations.’ 

Our News Outlet has reached out to Mitchell, as well as the University of Maine and its Mitchell Center for comment.