Peter Mandelson, the United Kingdom's top diplomat in the U.S., was removed from his post Thursday, according to officials, over his ties to the late disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Stephen Doughty, the U.K.'s Minister of State for Europe, North America and Overseas Territories, made the announcement to the House of Commons, citing "additional information in the emails written" by Mandelson.

Doughty cited one message in which Mandelson said he thought Epstein's 2008 conviction for soliciting prostitution from a minor in Florida "was wrongful and should be challenged." Epstein, who

© The Hill