Another blow to Norway from Epstein files as diplomat quits – POLITICO

“We need to determine whether the relationship impacted her work as a diplomat,” Eide said in the statement.

Norwegian media reported that Juul’s husband, Terje Rød-Larsen, had dinner with Epstein in Paris in June 2019, just weeks before Epstein’s arrest by U.S. authorities on sex trafficking charges. The media reports referred to emails in the latest tranche of files released by the U.S. Justice Department, where it says: “Jeffrey says he will meet with Terje and Thornborn (how do you spell this name?!) in Paris on Thursday June 20th.”

The names of Juul, her husband and former Council of Europe Secretary-General Thorbjørn Jagland appear several times in the Epstein emails released by the U.S. government. Appearance in the files does not in itself imply wrongdoing or illegal behavior.

“It’s important to understand the extent of her contact with Epstein in her capacity as an employee of the ministry,” Eide said in Monday’s statement. “Juul will continue dialogues with the ministry so that the case is clarified and we can determine whether her previous explanations align with the new information,” he added.

Juul is a former politician for Norway’s Labour Party. She and her husband played a key role in negotiating the Oslo Accords, the interim peace agreement between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization in the early 1990s.

Media reports in late January said that Epstein had intended to leave $5 million each to the couple’s two children in a change to his will made after his arrest in the summer of 2019, shortly before his death in prison in August 2019.

“Mona Juul will continue to cooperate fully with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to help ensure that all relevant facts in the matter come to light,” Juul’s lawyer, Thomas Skjelbred, said in a statement sent to journalists Sunday. POLITICO reached out to Skjelbred for additional comment but did not immediately receive an answer.

Several other prominent Norwegians have appeared in the Epstein files, including Crown Princess Mette-Marit and World Economic Forum President and former Foreign Minister Børge Brende. Jagland, who also is a former Norwegian prime minister, is facing a police investigation over alleged corruption in relation to his contact with Epstein.