A longtime leading Democrat was dealt an embarrassing blow over his links to dead pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
The University of Maine System board of trustees voted 9-5 on Monday, with one abstention, to rebrand programs named after former US Sen. George J. Mitchell, a Democrat from Maine.
Mitchell, 93, served in the Senate from 1980 to 1995, including a yearslong stint as Senate Majority Leader to cap off his legislative career.
His name appeared more than 300 times, including duplicates, in the files released by the Department of Justice about Epstein, according to the Irish Times.
In emails dated August 2009, Epstein listed Mitchell as a participant of a gathering he said he intended to ‘fully fund.’ The gathering came one month after Epstein had been released from prison after pleading guilty to charges including soliciting a minor for prostitution.
A correspondence from October 2014 also showed Epstein’s then–assistant Lesley Groff asking the disgraced financier if she wanted him to forward ‘the number we have for George Mitchell’ to a redacted person.
Some of the institutions that will be renamed by the University of Maine include the Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions, as well as the George J. Mitchell Peace Scholarship.
Mitchell has denied knowing about Epstein’s heinous sex crimes. He has never been charged with any crime in relation to Epstein, whose 2019 death in jail was ruled a suicide.
Former US Sen. George J. Mitchell, 93, will no longer have his name on several of the University of Maine’s institutions after a vote from the university’s board of trustees
Epstein referred to Mitchell as a ‘very close friend’ in 2018 messages that were released by the Department of Justice
A 2018 message from Epstein mentioning Mitchell as a ‘very close friend’
In October 2014, Epstein’s then-assistant Lesley Groff emailed the disgraced financier about Mitchell
He mentioned the senator shortly after being released from prison in Florida on sex offenses in 2009.
That July 28, he wrote a message to a redacted figure asking to e–mail Mitchell, whose name he misspelled.
‘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 declined invitation from Epstein after learning of his criminal conduct, the BBC reported.
Epstein referred to Mitchell as recently as 2018, when he called him a ‘very close friend.’
Mitchell previously handwrote a letter to Epstein as part of the financier’s 50th birthday book in 2003, according to The New York Times.
‘The beginning of a new year is an appropriate time to count our blessings,’ Mitchell wrote, per the outlet.
The Mitchell Center will be temporarily renamed as the University of Maine Center for Sustainability Solutions, per 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.
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 our students 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 as 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.
