'Tip of the iceberg': Prince Andrew interviewer predicts new Epstein links coming

A journalist whose interview with Prince Andrew ended his royal career predicts Jeffrey Epstein's files will ruin more reputations.

The Duke of York invited BBC's Emily Maitlis into the palace in November 2019 to discuss his friendship with the disgraced financier shortly after his death in jail — an interview widely considered to be an own goal for the prince, who denied having sex with a 17-year-old sex trafficking victim.

The journalist spoke with the United Kingdom's LBC News now after newly revealed emails dispute what the prince told her.

"None of it quite adds up, does it?" Maitlis said.

"The narrative from Andrew had always been, 'After I realized who he was, you know, broadly, I ended contact with him,'" Maitlis added. "Now, that doesn't match up because in 2008 [Epstein had] already been a convicted sex offender, he'd served his short prison sentence, and Prince Andrew had told me that he'd broken off contact in 2006, but actually he hadn't."

Andrew told her that he ceased contact with Epstein in December 2010, saying he ended their friendship in person during a walk in Central Park that was captured by a paparazzi photo. But the emails show him offering support to Epstein in February 2011 and promising to "keep in close touch and we’ll play some more soon."

"We still don't know the absolute truth even behind that photo taken in Central Park," Maitlis said. "But much of the reporting has suggested that it was very useful to Epstein because it provided, sort of, kompromat. It links him."

The newly revealed emails were dated Feb. 28, 2011, the day after the Mail on Sunday published a now-infamous photo of the prince with Epstein co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell and teenaged Virginia Giuffre, with whom he later settled a sex abuse lawsuit out of court for an undisclosed sum while denying liability.

"I mean, the number of people that have ended up lying for Epstein, whose careers have ended up in absolute tatters because of their connection to him," Maitlis said. "I think we're at the tip of the iceberg, I genuinely do."