Former Norwegian prime minister Thorbjørn Jagland and one of his former Labour Party colleagues and fellow diplomats, Terje Rød-Larsen, have been getting more unwelcome publicity in recent weeks. Their names are among those showing up in documents released from the estate of the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, but Jagland insists their relationship was simply part of “normal diplomatic activity.”
Rød-Larsen hasn’t responded to Norwegian media inquiries, while Jagland ended up issuing a statement to both newspaper Dagens Næringsliv (DN) and other media. “I have, in my work, met very many people, many of them have put me in contact with even more,” Jagland first wrote in mid-November, when more of the so-called “Epstein files” were released.
“This is part of normal diplomatic activity,” wrote Jagland. “For me, it was especially important to understand Donald Trump and what was developing in relations between the USA and Europe.”
It didn’t take long before Jagland was accusing reporters of asking “many absurd questions” about his ties to Epstein. He has also suggested that questions over a reference in Epstein’s appointment book to “DINNER w/Terje & Thorbjoern” in Paris in June 2019 (just a months before he was arrested again and died in prison) were tied to DN’s “wild and crazy conspiracy theories.” DN published the reference on Saturday.
Epstein, a wealthy financier known for his international connections, pleaded guilty in 2008 for seeking out and obtaining minors for prostitution. He was arrested again in 2019 and faced new charges within illegal sex trade, but died in prison later that year while awaiting trial. His contacts with powerful people all over the world had continued long after he’d been officially registered as a sex offender.
Jagland stressed in his reaction to the release of his correspondence with Epstein that he also faced a process of excluding Russia from the Council of Europe and “how serious that was.” He added that all the information that has “come forward about Jeffrey Epstein’s private life” is something he “greatly distanced himself from.”
The communication now revealed between Jagland and Epstein took place between 2016 and 2018, when Jagland was both secretary general of the Council of Europe and sat on the Norwegian Nobel Committee. Jagland was living in Strasbourg at the time, and met Epstein both at his home there, in New York and elsewhere.
As early as January 2013, though, Epstein called Jagland “a great friend” in one of his emails. In June 2016, just before Trump was elected US president for the first time, DN and other Norwegian media reported that Jagland referred to Epstein’s private island in the Caribbean, where Epstein was accused of bringing minors for sex. Epstein had written to Jagland that he “must be a very busy man” but hoped to see him soon. Jagland responded: “Yes, terrible times. If Trump wins in US I’ll settle on your island. Before that I’ll be in NY in September. Lots of things to talk about.”
In another exchange between the two in April 2017, when Trump had become president, DN reported that Jagland sent get-well wishes to Epstein in a mail in which he also wrote: “We have had wonderful days. Tell me when you are coming to Paris so that we can talk. I really don’t understand Trump. Today I have to deal with the referendum in Turkey,” before misspelling Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s name and adding that “Endogan is another difficult to understand.”
Epstein responded that he would “be better” and felt “terrible” for “having to cut your stay short. There is much going on. Many investigations will begin.” Jagland answered by writing:” You should feel well for having done so much for us.” It was unclear what that was, and where they had spent their “wonderful days.”
DN reported that emails between Jagland and Epstein in June 2018 mention Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, with Epstein seeking Jagland’s help to get in touch with Lavrov. Jagland responded that he would propose such during an upcoming meeting at the time with one of Lavrov’s assistants. Jagland also thanked Epstein “for a lovely evening” and wrote that he’d would be traveling to New York for the United Nations’ “high level week.”
Rød-Larsen, meanwhile, has avoided press inquiries. He’s also a former Norwegian diplomat with ties to Norway’s Labour Party who had to resign as a minister in Jagland’s government over a tax issue back in 1996. Rød-Larsen went on to hold several posts at the United Nations and continued in peace work until he had to resign in 2020 as president of the International Peace Institute (IPI). It had funding from Norway’s foreign ministry and, among others, Epstein. He’d already apologized to its board, “friends and partners” for securing donations from foundations tied to Epstein while also having “a personal financial relation” with Epstein.
Oslo-based newspaper Dagens Næringsliv (DN) had reported on a personal USD 130,000 loan Rød-Larsen had from Epstein at the time, along with his acceptance of around USD 650,000 in donations from Epstein foundations. IPI was unaware of the donations and the loan, and stated that Rød-Larsen had apologized for exhibiting poor judgment. Rød-Larsen was also questioned by Norway’s foreign ministry but didn’t comment then, either, even after DN spent two months trying to obtain his side of the story.
Nor did Rød-Larsen respond to the The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) when it wrote more about his association with Epstein three years later. It wrote at the time that Rød-Larsen’s relations with Epstein in New York were so close that Epstein’s staff had cucumbers ready to go with his gin. That was when WSJ published a series of articles based on thousands of Epstein’s emails and calendars from 2013 to 2017. Now the newly released Epstein files have revealed the dinner appointment in Paris in June 2019 that also involved Jagland.
Royal regrets, too
DN also reported in December 2019 that Norway’s Crown Princess Mette-Marit had a series of meetings with Epstein both at his home in New York and in Oslo, several years aver he’d admitted to being a sex offender. She later apologized for failing to investigate his background.
“Through years of work with questions regarding international health issues, I have witnessed first-hand the kind of damage sexual assault does to women and children,” the crown princess wrote in an email to DN. “We all have a responsibility to fight sexual assault and to support its victims. I with to express my deepest sympathy and solidarity to the victims of Jeffrey Epstein.” Now the crown princess is caught up in another scandal involving her own son, Marius Borg Høiby, who faces a lengthy trial on charges that also include sexual assault.
Palace officials also told DN that she had broken off contact with Epstein in 2013, when she among other things had experienced that Epstein tried to use the relation he had with the crown princess in meetings with other people. DN published an English version of the story which can be found here (external link).
NewsinEnglish.no/Nina Berglund
