President Trump expressed sympathy for Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the disgraced former prince who was arrested over his ties to pedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein on Thursday.
“I think it’s a shame. I think it’s very sad. I think it’s so bad for the royal family. It’s very, very sad,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One as he traveled to Georgia for an event.
The president also praised King Charles, to whom he remains close. The British royal will visit the US this summer for the country’s 250th birthday celebration.
“He’s a fantastic man, king,” he said. Trump made a state visit to the UK in September, where he was feted with a grand state dinner at Windsor Castle. The president thanked King Charles “one of the highest honors of my life.”
Andrew was arrested on the morning of his birthday on suspicion of misconduct in public office over his alleged correspondence with Epstein while he was a British trade envoy.
Police also searched addresses on the royal estates in Windsor and Sandringham, where Andrew was living most recently after being forced to leave the Royal Lodge earlier this month.
The arrest was a shocking development in the Epstein case and unprecedented in England, where members of the royal family are typically considered untouchable.
Mountbatten-Windsor — who is still eighth in line for the throne — faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted.
Trump and Epstein had a falling out in the mid-2000s and the president has never been charged with any crimes related to Epstein.
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The president reminded reporters of that: “I’ve been totally exonerated. I did nothing, in fact, the opposite. He was against me. He was fighting me in the election which I just found out throughout the last three million pages of documents.”
The recent document dump from the Justice Department showed numerous emails from Epstein where he was obsessed with Trump and how he won the White House. Many of those messages were with author Michael Wolff.
Trump has threatened to sue Wolff and Epstein’s estate, saying the two men conspired to destroy his career.
“I didn’t see it myself, but I was told by some very important people that not only does it absolve me, it’s the opposite of what people were hoping, you know, the radical left,” he said earlier this month.
