Lajcak: I Only Engaged Socially with Epstein, I Condemn His Actions
Bratislava, 14 November 14 (TASR) - I engaged with US financier Jeffrey Epstein in the past only in social communication as part of my diplomatic duties, Miroslav Lajcak, the former foreign minister (2012-20) and current adviser to Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) told TASR on Friday.
The opening of Epstein's case by the US justice system concerning the abuse of minors took place only after Lajcak's departure from New York in 2018, noted the Slovak diplomat, who had previously served as President of the 72nd UN General Assembly. Lajcak also strongly condemned Epstein's actions, which, he pointed out, only came to light in their entirety after the financier's arrest.
According to Lajcak, the role of a diplomat is to establish contacts with as wide a range of partners as possible, and he claims to have met thousands of such people during his career. When he was in New York, he says he was introduced to dozens of influential people, including Epstein, with whom many public figures from the US and abroad maintained contact at the time.
"Our subsequent communication, which he initiated, was of a social nature and was mainly devoted to commenting on current events in the world," said Lajcak, adding that he still maintains similar communication with dozens of people he has met during his professional career. "My conscience is clear; there was nothing in it that deviated from the standard framework," he emphasised.
"The reopening of the Epstein case took place after I left New York, and the full extent of his inexcusable actions, which I strongly condemn, only came to light after his arrest," stressed Lajcak.
Slovakia's former chief diplomat further stated that he often communicated with people who were fully accepted at the time, but later ended up in court for war crimes, for example. "It is always easier to evaluate things in retrospect, but in life we make decisions in real time, based on the information and knowledge we have available at that moment," added Lajcak.
Slovak National Party (SNS) chair Andrej Danko called on Lajcak to clarify whether a reported email exchange with late US financier Jeffrey Epstein is genuine. The SNS head also called on then-deputy foreign minister Ivan Korcok (Progressive Slovakia/PS) to clarify whether he was aware of this communication. Korcok responded by saying that Danko's words refuted Premier Fico's claims about the influence of American financier George Soros on events in Slovakia.
At the same time, the SNS leader stated that he expects current Foreign Minister Juraj Blanar (Smer-SD) to review all communications of his predecessors at the ministry. He wants to know whether representatives of the ministry were passing information to a foreign power. The Foreign Ministry responded by stating that it doesn't and won't interfere in any investigation with its statements. It recommended contacting Lajcak himself regarding this matter.
The Oversight Committee of the US House of Representatives on Wednesday (12 November) published thousands of pages of documents related to the case of the late US financier Epstein. The documents include email communications allegedly exchanged between then Slovak foreign minister Lajcak and Epstein.
According to the released documents, Epstein reportedly sent Lajcak a link in March 2018 to an article from the Daily Beast claiming that then US President Donald Trump was close to a mental breakdown. The former Slovak foreign minister allegedly replied from his official ministerial email that he'd already heard enough about the issue during the day.
Epstein also reportedly wrote about Lajcak to former Trump adviser and strategist Steve Bannon in March 2018. In an email, Epstein referred to the Slovak ex-minister in a familiar manner as "Miro" and suggested that he could lead a kind of "European project". He added that the Slovak government would soon fall, "as planned." A week after the email was sent, Robert Fico's government came to an end.
