American Lawmaker Calls On Former Prince Andrew to Provide Testimony in Jeffrey Epstein Inquiry
A Democratic Party congressman has publicly called for the ex-royal Andrew Windsor to testify before the House of Representatives investigative panel that is currently conducting an inquiry into the government’s handling of the Epstein case.
Bipartisan Pressure for Evidence
The declaration from Ro Khanna, a California Democratic representative who is a member of the investigative House oversight committee, comes after a British trade official, Chris Bryant, suggested that since the former prince has been stripped of his royal status, he should answer demands for information about his connections to Jeffrey Epstein, an alleged sex trafficker who died by suicide while in government custody six years ago.
“Just as with any regular citizen, if there were formal requests from overseas of this kind, I would expect any decently minded person to honor that request,” the minister said.
The congressman stated: “Andrew should be called to testify before the investigative committee. The public deserves to know who was abusing women and young girls with Epstein.”
Partisan Landscape and Probe Progress
GOP members control the majority in the House, but amid public outcry over former President Trump’s management of the Epstein case authorized an investigation by the oversight committee into how the authorities managed his prosecutions. Public interest surged in July, after the justice department announced that a widely speculated list of Epstein’s sex trafficking clients did not exist, and it would provide no additional information on the case.
The House investigation has thus far resulted in the publication of thousands of documents – including an explicit sketch apparently made by Trump for Epstein’s birthday – as well as sworn statements from ex-government leaders.
Legal Efforts and Challenges
As a member of the minority, Khanna lacks the authority to compel Mountbatten Windsor’s testimony. Representatives for the Republican committee chairman, James Comer, declined to comment about whether he believes the former prince should be interviewed.
Khanna and Thomas Massie have introduced a bill to mandate the disclosure of files related to Epstein, but House Speaker Johnson, a top ally of the president, has blocked a vote on it. Massie and Khanna have circulated a discharge petition that will force a vote on the bill, if 218 members of the House sign it.
“This is what my campaign with Representative Massie has been about: openness and accountability for the victims who have been courageously speaking out,” the lawmaker said.
The appeal has been signed by all 213 House Democrats, as well as four Republicans. The final required signature is expected to be Representative-elect Grijalva, who was elected in the state of Arizona last month, and awaits swearing in by Johnson. However, the speaker has declined to act until the House comes back into session, and has stated he won’t instruct lawmakers to return to Washington until the Senate approves a measure to resolve the federal shutdown.