Epstein Claims Cast Shadow Over Legacy of Northern Ireland Peacemakers Clinton and Mitchell
When former US President Bill Clinton testifies later this week at a congressional investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, there will likely be no mention of his most cherished foreign policy achievement: helping to bring peace to Northern Ireland. Whether Clinton is linked to Epstein's crimes or successfully defends himself, his legacy in Northern Ireland might seem untouchable, a shining gem of his presidency preserved in history.
However, that is not the case. The radioactive fallout from association with Epstein threatens to tarnish the former president's crucial role in ending the Troubles and has already contaminated his Northern Ireland envoy, former Democratic Senator George Mitchell, who brokered the historic Good Friday Agreement.
Fading Admiration in a Grateful Region
With each release of Epstein files, Mitchell, and to a lesser extent Clinton, have been losing admirers in a region that showered them with honors for three decades. "How should we react when we discover that someone, once accorded almost god-like status, turns out to have feet of clay?" asked commentator Alex Kane in the Belfast daily Irish News. For institutions and public figures that once celebrated Clinton and his envoy, this question is deeply painful.
The British and Irish governments laid the groundwork for the peace process, but the 42nd US president played an indispensable role in weaning the IRA from violence and bolstering the confidence of Northern Ireland's paramilitaries and politicians. Mitchell, a Senate majority leader until 1995, proved an inspired choice to chair multiparty talks. Tireless, affable, and shrewd, he guided negotiations to the 1998 agreement that ended a brutal conflict and saved countless lives.
Honors Revoked and Legacies Questioned
Mitchell "helped to make peace and thankfully sustain it," said Bertie Ahern, a former taoiseach who, alongside Tony Blair, was instrumental in securing the agreement. "The assistance at the time by Bill Clinton as president and his visit to the north and his attention to the parties over many years was crucial," Ahern added.
Bill and Hillary Clinton and Mitchell received standing ovations during a 2023 visit to Belfast for the agreement's 25th anniversary, with Mitchell further honored by a bronze bust. Yet, the reverence has waned due to allegations by Virginia Giuffre in 2019 that she was forced to have sex with Mitchell in the 1990s, and his repeated appearances in Epstein files.
Mitchell denies any wrongdoing or ever meeting Giuffre, but after recent Epstein material releases, former supporters have withdrawn their support. The US-Ireland Alliance announced on February 1 that its George J. Mitchell scholarship program would no longer bear his name. "We are not a court of law. We are an organisation which must make decisions that reflect what we stand for," said the Alliance's founder, Trina Vargo.
Queen's University Belfast, which had a close partnership with Mitchell during his chancellorship from 1999 to 2009, followed suit. It removed his name from its Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice, deleted laudatory articles from its website, and took down the £35,000 bust from campus. The university cited information from the latest Epstein files, stating Mitchell's previous reassurances about his contact with Epstein were incorrect.
Belfast City Council is now considering rescinding Mitchell's freedom of the city, a proposal backed by both nationalist and unionist parties. In a poignant irony, even in disgrace, the former envoy from Maine has united opposing sides.
Defense and Divided Opinions
Is Mitchell's fall from grace an overdue reckoning or a reputational lynching? And will Clinton face similar scrutiny after his congressional testimony? Mitchell's name appears 310 times in the Epstein files. According to Mitchell, Giuffre's identification was a case of mistaken identity, with a spokesperson noting a photograph incorrectly captioned him with Epstein.
The senator asserts he never met Giuffre or any underage women and learned of Epstein's criminal activity through media reports after 2008, after which he "declined or deflected" invitations from Epstein's office. "Senator Mitchell profoundly regrets ever having known Jeffrey Epstein and condemns, without reservation, the horrific harm Epstein inflicted on so many women," the statement said.
Some argue Queen's should have disowned Mitchell sooner. "The university's past sycophancy towards him looks foolish beyond belief," wrote Suzanne Breen in the Belfast Telegraph. Others defend Mitchell, with Irish-American publisher Niall O'Dowd warning against a rush to judgment. "God bless George Mitchell, we all owe him so much," said Alasdair McDonnell, a former leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party.
Alf McCreary, a commentator and former information director at Queen's, said Mitchell deserved better than the university's "kneejerk" response, praising his dedication and role in securing peace. Ahern emphasized that gratitude for Mitchell and Clinton's peacemaking will endure, noting he has seen nothing in the Epstein papers to change his view.
Broader Implications and Political Sensitivities
However, the police investigation into former Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Mandelson and the arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor highlight the toxic power of association with Epstein and the danger it poses to Clinton. On February 27, Clinton will become the first former president to testify to a congressional committee since 1983, with expected questions about his flights on Epstein's plane and a hot tub photo.
Neither Clinton nor his wife has been accused of wrongdoing by Epstein's survivors, and both deny knowledge of his sex offending at the time. Damaging disclosures could pressure Belfast City Council to rescind Clinton's freedom of the city and Queen's to rename the William J. Clinton Leadership Institute and related lecture series. Queen's stated it is not currently considering action against other individuals.
Hillary Clinton, who will also testify and is Queen's current chancellor, said she met Epstein's associate Ghislaine Maxwell but not Epstein, and that she and her husband have nothing to hide. "We have called for the full release of these files repeatedly. We think sunlight is the best disinfectant," she said.
In the reappraisal of peace process heroes, notable silences persist. Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Tánaiste Simon Harris have avoided public comment, with emails to their offices about Mitchell's repudiation and unease over Clinton going unanswered. The timing is sensitive, as Martin is due to meet Donald Trump at the White House on St. Patrick's Day, amid potential disputes with a president who dislikes the Clintons and has his own Epstein links.
Northern Ireland's Current Challenges
Another factor, unrelated to Epstein or US politics, has dimmed the Good Friday glow that once illuminated Mitchell and Clinton. Northern Ireland faces significant turmoil, with power-sharing locking Sinn Féin and the Democratic Unionist Party in a dysfunctional marriage at Stormont, leading to acrimony and disillusionment.
Optimism about a new dawn began fading a decade ago, said former editor Noel Doran. "Everything looked reasonably hopeful for a while and then it all started to come apart. We're now into prolonged nastiness and confrontation." For this, the American peacemakers are blameless, but it is a bleak conjunction: as association with Epstein taints Mitchell and Clinton, their great accomplishment, Northern Ireland, slides into shadow.
