New York
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Former US Senator Bob Kerrey has resigned from the board of administrators of a Nebraska clean-energy startup amid controversy over his ties to convicted intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Kerrey, a Democrat who additionally served as Nebraska’s governor within the Eighties, joins a growing list of business leaders who’ve determined to step down as a result of scrutiny over their links to the disgraced financier.
In a telephone interview on Tuesday, Kerrey confirmed that he determined to resign from the board of Monolith to keep away from damaging the clean energy firm’s fortunes.
“I don’t want to mess up this company’s capacity to be successful. So, I resigned,” Kerrey advised NCS.
Kerrey has come underneath hearth after the hundreds of thousands of Epstein recordsdata the US Justice Department launched revealed the previous US Senator arranged to meet with Epstein on at the very least two events within the summer of 2013 for lunch and dinner.
Those conferences occurred years after Epstein pled guilty in 2008 to procuring a minor for prostitution. Kerrey hasn’t been accused of felony wrongdoing associated to Epstein.
The correspondence with Epstein occurred when Kerrey was wrapping up his tenure as president emeritus of The New School, a progressive college in New York, the place he was president from 2001 until 2010. Student newspaper The New School Free Press first reported Kerrey’s conferences with Epstein.
“Did I have a meeting with Jeffrey Epstein in 2013? The answer is yes, I did,” Kerrey advised NCS.
Kerrey defined he met with Epstein on the time for the aim of supporting The New School.
“I am willing to accept it was a lack of moral judgment. But the stories and files are misleading,” Kerrey mentioned, including that any suggestion he did Epstein a favor “isn’t true.”
In an announcement to NCS, The New School spokesperson Amy Malsin mentioned the college has reviewed data associated to Kerrey’s correspondence with Epstein.
“Those interactions appear to have been limited and were unrelated to the activities of The New School,” the spokesperson mentioned. “We regret that any member of our community had any association with Mr. Epstein, whose crimes were reprehensible.”
A Monolith spokesperson confirmed Kerrey resigned however provided no additional particulars as a result of it was “an internal governance matter.”
The Nebraska Republican Party final week known as on all Nebraska political candidates and organizations to right away return contributions obtained from Kerrey.
“Kerrey’s repeated presence in these records, including multiple documented meetings, reflects a staggering failure of judgment and moral responsibility,” Mary Jane Truemper, chairman of the Nebraska Republican Party, mentioned in an announcement final week.
Kerrey mentioned he embraces the concept of candidates returning his donations to charity and urged Republicans to do the identical.
“We need moral clarity. There’s almost an absence of moral clarity – especially in conversation about the so-called Epstein files,” Kerrey mentioned. “If Republicans are morally outraged by what I did, they need to be morally outraged at others who met with Epstein and might be in their party.”
“There were crimes against these children. That needs to be the focus of attention, not on some meetings that took place 15 years ago,” Kerrey mentioned.
Based in Nebraska, Monolith describes itself as a frontrunner in “advanced, more sustainable” US manufacturing. The firm has developed a course of to make use of renewable electrical energy to supply carbon black, a fabric utilized in tires and ammonia.
Kerrey mentioned Monolith is elevating capital and trying to get permits to be concerned within the building of knowledge facilities.
Kerrey mentioned he’ll not be concerned with Monolith however is remaining at Allen & Co., a New York boutique funding financial institution.