President Donald Trump voiced sympathy for the British royal family after the arrest Thursday of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor — formerly Prince Andrew — on allegations he shared confidential government material with Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender.
Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested Thursday, his 66th birthday, on suspicion of misconduct in public office. Police said he was later released under investigation.
The BBC reported that Mountbatten-Windsor served as U.K. trade envoy between 2001 and 2011 and that files recently released by the Department of Justice appeared to show he forwarded government reports from official visits to Vietnam, Singapore, and China to Epstein in 2010.
The documents also appeared to show he shared information about investment opportunities in Afghanistan.
"I think it's a shame," Trump told reporters on Air Force One while flying to Georgia.
"I think it's very sad," he said. "I think it's so bad for the royal family.
"It's very, very sad to me. It's a very sad thing.
"When I see that, it's a very sad thing to see it and to see what's going on with his brother, who is obviously coming to our country very soon."
Trump's comments came about two months before Mountbatten-Windsor's older brother, King Charles III, is set to visit the U.S. in April, the first U.S. visit by a British monarch since Queen Elizabeth II in 2007.
"It's really interesting because nobody used to speak about Epstein when he was alive, but now, they speak," Trump said. "But I'm the one that can talk about it because I've been totally exonerated.
"I did nothing. In fact, the opposite.
"He was against me. He was fighting me in the election, which I just found out from the last three million pages of documents."
Trump was referring to the latest batch of documents released by DOJ related to the federal investigation into Epstein, who died in federal custody in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. His death was ruled a suicide.
The documents contain references to numerous public figures, including Trump and Mountbatten-Windsor, but reporting on the release has not identified evidence that Epstein engaged in any political effort to oppose Trump's presidential campaigns.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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