Maine (WABI) – Former U.S. Senator George Mitchell has resigned from his role as honorary chair of the Mitchell Institute.
The organization said Thursday they accepted that resignation.
In a statement, the institute says they “agree that this is an appropriate time to initiate a thoughtful, responsible process to consider a potential name change.”
The announcement comes after recently unsealed court documents related to Jeffrey Epstein were released last Friday.
More than 300 references to Mitchell appear in over three million pages of files released by the Justice Department.
A spokesperson for Mitchell told WABI, “at no time did Senator Mitchell observe, suspect, or have any knowledge of Epstein engaging in illegal or inappropriate conduct with underage women.”
Mitchell, a Democrat from Maine, served in the U.S. Senate from 1980 to 1995.
For more than 30 years, the Mitchell Institute has helped Maine students pursue higher education by awarding scholarships to dozens of graduating students at public schools in Maine.
You can read the board’s full statement here.
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