US President Donald Trump made a fresh plea Tuesday for Americans to move on from the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, even as it left a prominent British politician facing a criminal probe on the other side of the Atlantic.
Former British ambassador to Washington Peter Mandelson resigned from the upper house of parliament amid allegations he passed confidential information to late sex offender Epstein.
The fallout from the latest release of millions of documents linked to Epstein continued in the United States too, where former president Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary will testify in Congress later this month.
Republican Trump insisted once again that he had been cleared by the newest trove of files as he faced renewed questions at the White House over the disgraced financier.
"Nothing came out about me other than it was a conspiracy against me, literally, by Epstein and other people. But I think it's time now for the country to maybe get on to something else like health care or something that people care about," Trump said.
Trump added that it was "not a Republican, it's a Democrat problem," in a bid to turn the issue back to the Clintons, and away from the mention in the files of allies including his Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and billionaire Elon Musk.
"It's a shame," he said of the Clintons.
- 'Too bad' -
Hillary Clinton, the Democratic former US secretary of state who lost to Trump in the 2016 election, and her husband will now testify in a US House investigation into Epstein on February 26 and 27.
Neither Trump nor the Clintons have been accused of criminal wrongdoing related to Epstein's activities.
Trump spent months trying to block the disclosure of files linked to Epstein, before relenting late last year when an initial tranche of files was released.
Fresh documents released by the US Justice Department last week contained emails between prominent figures and Epstein, who died by suicide in prison in 2019, often revealing warm relations, illicit financial dealings and private photos.
The names of some alleged victims, who were supposed to be anonymized, were left unredacted, prompting them to petition a US federal court for an "immediate takedown" of the government website showing the files.
However, a US federal judge on Tuesday canceled a court hearing set for Wednesday, saying that "the parties were able to resolve the privacy issues."
US attorney general, Pam Bondi, wrote to the judge on Monday that all documents requested by victims or counsel had been removed for further redaction.
Nevertheless, Trump's efforts to move on from the Epstein scandal have been hampered as it engulfs key figures from royals to politicians at home and abroad.
"I don't know too much about it," Trump said when an AFP reporter asked him to comment on Mandelson's resignation. "I know who he is. It's too bad."
Mandelson appeared in the Oval Office in May 2025 and shook hands with Trump as they announced a trade deal, but was sacked in September over earlier Epstein revelations.
