A prominent Democrat has suffered a public setback over his documented ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The University of Maine System’s board of trustees voted 9-5 Monday, with one member abstaining, to remove former US Sen. George J. Mitchell’s name from several university programs. Mitchell is a Maine Democrat.
Mitchell, now 93, represented Maine in the Senate from 1980 through 1995. He concluded his congressional career after serving for years as Senate majority leader.
Mitchell’s name appeared more than 300 times, including duplicate entries, in files released by the Department of Justice concerning Epstein, according to the Irish Times.
In emails from August 2009, Epstein identified Mitchell as an attendee at a gathering he said he planned to “fully fund.” The event was scheduled roughly a month after Epstein left prison following his guilty plea to charges that included soliciting a minor for prostitution.
Another exchange, from October 2014, showed Epstein’s former assistant, Lesley Groff, asking whether he wanted her to send a redacted individual “the number we have for George Mitchell.”
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 sexual crimes. He has not been charged with any offense connected to Epstein, whose death in a New York City jail in 2019 was ruled a suicide.
Former US Sen. George J. Mitchell, 93, will no longer have his name attached to several University of Maine institutions following the trustees’ vote
In messages released by the Department of Justice, Epstein described Mitchell as a “very close friend” in 2018
A 2018 message from Epstein refers to Mitchell as a “very close friend”
Epstein’s former assistant, Lesley Groff, emailed him about Mitchell in October 2014
Epstein referred to Mitchell soon after his 2009 release from a Florida prison, where he had served time for sex offenses.
On July 28 of that year, he sent a message to a redacted recipient 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 Epstein’s invitations after learning about his criminal behavior, the BBC reported.
Even years later, Epstein continued to describe Mitchell warmly. In 2018, he called the former senator a “very close friend.”
The New York Times also reported that Mitchell wrote a handwritten note for a book marking Epstein’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 operate under the name 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.
CONTINUE READING: Rebel Force Opposed to Putin Secures Second Village in Russia Within Two Days Following Declaration to Advance Towards Moscow – NewsFinale
The University of Maine will rebrand the Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions following the vote by its board
Mitchell, pictured alongside President Barack Obama and Richard Holbrooke, has denied seeing or knowing about Epstein’s sex crimes
A 2009 email from Epstein said that he intended to ‘fully fund’ a gathering that included Mitchell
A spokesperson for the University of Maine System told the outlet 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.
Mitchell, pictured with the Clintons, is also known for his role as US Special Envoy to Northern Ireland
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.
The Daily Mail has reached out to Mitchell, as well as the University of Maine, its board of trustees and its Mitchell Center for comment.