Former Prime Minister and outgoing US Ambassador Kevin Rudd has denied visiting Jeffrey Epstein’s New York home following the release of new files from the US Department of Justice.
In a lengthy statement, Rudd vehemently denied he had ever corresponded with the convicted American sex offender or visited any of his homes.
Millions of pages of documents related to Epstein were released overnight by the Justice Department, shedding further light on his network of contacts in business, politics and the media.
The documents provide insight into how Epstein used his contacts to bring those in power to justice, and used others to initiate meetings between him and other high-profile people.
Epstein maintained friendly relationships with former presidents and senior officials for decades and was reportedly involved in intelligence and influence activities.
Epstein was imprisoned for soliciting sex from minors and committed suicide in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on more serious charges of sex trafficking of minors.
More than 2,000 videos and 180,000 images were also released in Friday’s dump.
The files, posted on the department’s website, include some of the millions of pages of documents that officials said were withheld from the initial release of documents in December.
Emails in the release of the files showed that Epstein had scheduled a meeting with Rudd on Sunday, June 8, 2014, at 4:30 p.m., but Rudd strongly denied ever meeting Epstein and said there was no evidence that the former prime minister had accepted an invitation to him.
“Our office has no record of this meeting and the published documents gave no indication of who was involved in organizing it. In any event, they failed to arrange its introduction,” said a statement from Rudd’s office.
Dr. Rudd is one of thousands named in the Epstein dossiers, and SBS News does not suggest there was any kind of personal relationship between Epstein and Mr Rudd.
“We cannot rule out the possibility that they attended the same event at some point, as Dr. Rudd has attended literally thousands of events in New York over the years,” the statement said.
“Most references to Dr. Rudd in these latest documents mention him in passing. Others indicate that there were attempts by mutual acquaintances of Jeffrey Epstein to introduce him to Dr. Rudd. No introduction ever took place and there is no evidence of any direct contact between Jeffrey Epstein and Dr. Rudd or his office.”
The release comes after months of accusations between the administration and Congress over the slow pace and opacity of the documents, which have been withheld due to years of documents and legal filings related to the Epstein case.
In the statement, Rudd’s office said: “Even if these various documents were somehow accepted at face value, none of them allege that Dr. Rudd engaged in unlawful activity or had any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes.
“Dr. Rudd’s legal team is prepared to take legal action against any defamatory statement alleging any form of personal relationship between Dr. Rudd and Epstein.”
— With additional reporting by Associated Press
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