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US PRESIDENT DONALD Trump has claimed he doesn’t know Peter Mandelson, the veteran Labour politician who was fired last week as the UK’s ambassador to America.
Mandelson was dropped from the high-profile role after fresh revelations about his interactions with notorious paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Towards the end of a long joint press conference with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, the US leader was asked if he had any sympathy with Mandelson because of his own historical associations with Epstein.
“I don’t know him, I had heard that,” Trump said when asked if he had sympathy for Mandelson while speaking at a press conference at the UK Prime Minister’s country home in Chequers.
Sidestepping the question, Trump said Starmer would be “better” placed to answer it.
Trump has been pictured with Mandelson several times, most recently in May of this year after the UK-US trade deal was announced.
In an interview with Fox News in January Mandelson described Trump as a “nice” and “fair-minded” person.
He said the US president could become “one of the most consequential American presidents I have known in my adult life”.
The Labour veteran spent much of his time as ambassador cultivating a relationship with the Trump administration – according to a BBC report from earlier this year, he met Elon Musk, holidayed with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and built a relationship with Mark Burnett, Trump’s special envoy to the UK.
The press conference has been the only chance for the media to interrogate the US president during his UK state visit.
Although the two leaders were focused on the so-called “special relationship” and a new technology deal – with the Jeffrey Epstein controversy miring both countries, it was sure to come up.
Trump’s rambling press conference answers also touched on the issue of Gaza, TikTok and Trump’s disappointment with Putin.
Starmer is due to announce that the UK will recognise the Palestinian state, but has been accused of delaying the plans.
The Prime Minister previously pledged to recognise Palestine as a state before next week’s United Nations General Assembly if Israel does not meet a series of conditions to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
The Times said the recognition would be delayed until Trump had left the UK to prevent the press conference being dominated by the news.
Starmer said the two leaders spent the “best part of an hour” discussing the issue, but he did not directly say when the UK will recognise Palestine.
Trump said he has “a disagreement with the Prime Minister on that score” when asked about Starmer’s plan.
When asked why he was waiting for Trump to leave the country before recognising Palestine, Starmer said it “has nothing to do with the state visit”.
“It’s to do with timing,” he said.
Starmer said the countries are “working together to end the humanitarian catastrophe in the Middle East”.
He said both countries want to “get the aid in, free the hostages, and ultimately bring Israel and the region back towards a comprehensive plan which can deliver peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians alike”.
Trump focused on the need to free the Israeli hostages, but did not mention the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
He said the UK and US are “working very hard on Israel and Gaza”.
“What’s happening over there is complex, but it’s going to get done. It’ll get done, alright,” he said.
When asked why he hasn’t used his power to stop the war, Trump said he wants the Israeli hostages freed first.
Trump once again touted his claim that he stopped “seven wars” during his presidency.
Out of all seven, Trump said he thought the Russia-Ukraine conflict would be easiest to solve, but that Putin has let him down.
He said: “The one that I thought would be easiest would be because of my relationship with President Putin, but he’s let me down. He’s really let me down. Was going to be Russia and Ukraine, but we’ll see how that turns out.”
Trump has previously implored Putin to agree to a ceasefire. Before the pair met for a summit in Alaska, Trump had warned of “severe consequences” if Russia did not accept a ceasefire.
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