By Daniel Lippman

Across the Atlantic, heads are rolling due to the revelations about Jeffrey Epstein.

In Norway, a prominent diplomat has been suspended and a police investigation has been opened against a former prime minister.

In the United Kingdom, the former ambassador to the United States has been sacked; on Tuesday he also resigned from the House of Lords. Police are investigating reports that he shared sensitive market information with Epstein.

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, was stripped of his royal titles and residence. A charity founded by his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, the former Duchess of York, will close indefinitely after the publication of emails in which she called Epstein 'a legend' and 'the brother I always wished I had'.

But as the European political class tries to clean up its mess and confront the shame surrounding its ties to the convicted sex offender, it is inadvertently highlighting something else: the comparative lack of accountability in the US.

No important politicians have fallen. The consequences have been limited. The circle has been closed to protect the most prominent political figures, whose names are mentioned in the published legal documents.

In the United Kingdom, former ambassador to the United States Peter Mandelson, who has said he was wrong to trust Epstein after his conviction and to continue his association with him, has become a burden on British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Although Starmer has never met Epstein, some are calling for his resignation over Mandelson's appointment. The prime minister publicly apologized to Epstein's victims on Thursday.

'I'm sorry,' Starmer said. 'I'm sorry for what was done to you, I'm sorry that so many people in power let you down, I'm sorry that I believed Mandelson's lies and nominated him, and I'm sorry that even now you are forced to see this story unfold again in public.'

In the US, the story is different. Donald Trump's Republican Party has largely averted its gaze or lined up to defend the president, despite his documented ties to Epstein and other unverified allegations that emerged last week.

Trump has denied any wrongdoing in connection with the Epstein allegations, and there is no evidence that he participated in Epstein's trafficking operation. The president has also maintained that he and Epstein broke up years ago.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick remains in his cabinet post. Lutnick said in a podcast last year that he was so disgusted by his neighbor Epstein in 2005 that he vowed never to be in the same room with him again. But when the Justice Department released more than three million pages of material related to the late American financier last Friday, emails emerged suggesting a closer relationship and that Lutnick had met Epstein several years later on a trip to his Caribbean island. A spokesman said the commerce secretary “had limited interactions with Mr. Epstein in the presence of his wife and was never accused of wrongdoing.” So far, there is no sign that this has affected his position in Trump’s cabinet.

Goldman Sachs and its CEO David Solomon have also stood by the firm's general counsel, Kathryn Ruemmler, who has faced harsh headlines for months over her ties to Epstein, including gifts like a $9,400 Hermes bag and a spa treatment at the Four Seasons Hotel in Washington. Solomon told the Wall Street Journal a few weeks ago that Ruemmler, a former White House adviser to Barack Obama, is "widely respected and admired at the firm."

Ruemmler has said he regrets 'ever knowing him and has great empathy for the victims of Epstein's crimes.'

Dr. Peter Attia, a renowned author and longevity researcher who has contributed to CBS News, also remains on the job despite appearing in numerous emails with Epstein, where they discussed female anatomy and how Epstein's life was "so unbridled." In an email he published on X, Attia apologized and said he was not involved in any criminal activity, that his interactions with Epstein were not related to sexual abuse or exploitation, and that he was never on his plane or island, or at any sex parties.

Some see the relatively limited response, in a public arena where adultery or even marijuana use was once enough to ruin a career, as a reflection of the waning standards of the Trump era, where the president’s own questionable behavior and extreme polarization have led to a greater tolerance for the smell of scandal. They point to the cabinet appointments of former Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who once would have been unthinkable because of allegations of involvement in sex crimes, which both have denied.

'Part of this has to do with the general chaos on this side of the ocean, where there is a constant stream of scandals emanating from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and Trump has set a defiant tone of refusal to acknowledge and feel shame,' said Norm Eisen, a former U.S. ambassador to the Czech Republic and a prominent Trump critic. 'Those who should feel shame are being locked inside.'

It is true that some American figures linked to Epstein have been forced to withdraw from public life. Among them are former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, who said he is “deeply ashamed of my actions and understand the pain they have caused,” and Brad Karp, the chairman of the law firm Paul Weiss, who resigned, saying it was in the best interest of the firm. David Ross, the former director of the Whitney Museum of American Art, resigned this week from his post at a Manhattan art school and said he was ashamed of having fallen prey to Epstein’s lies. But for many of the most prominent elites who had contact with the late convict, including former Trump adviser Steve Bannon and tech billionaire Elon Musk, the only consequence has been reputational damage.

"What matters is not the release of some of the Epstein files, but the prosecution of those who committed terrible crimes with Epstein," Musk wrote on X. "When there is at least one arrest, some justice will have been served. Otherwise, this is all performative. Nothing but a distraction."

Bannon has spoken little publicly about their relationship, but has previously called for an independent investigation into the files.

Bannon, a frequent visitor to Epstein's New York home, was planning a documentary to rehabilitate his image and was even exchanging messages about planning the documentary with Epstein the day he was arrested in 2019. However, there are few visible signs that the scandal has affected him: Bannon continues his "War Room" show on Rumble, and his political commentary is widely covered by the media.

This approach is consistent with Trump's style of not giving up an inch.

'We as Americans need to look at ourselves in the mirror. Why aren't we having the same reaction [as Europe]?' said Rufus Gifford, a former Obama-appointed ambassador to Denmark. 'There's no doubt that the way Trump has acted has filtered into the broader society. But I think the question we have to ask is whether this existed before Trump, and Trump is simply a symptom of a larger problem.'