Congressional Panel Requests Questioning with Andrew in Jeffrey Epstein Inquiry
A US congressional panel probing pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein has sent a letter to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, previously Britain’s Prince Andrew, asking that he submit to questioning as part of its investigation into Epstein’s wrongdoings.
In a communication released on Thursday, a California congressman, the top Democrat on the House investigative committee, urged that King Charles III’s brother assist with its inquiry.
The official demand to provide testimony follows a week after Mountbatten Windsor was stripped of his royal title and opted to surrender his leased home in Windsor.
Records and Allegations
Mountbatten Windsor’s name is listed in records and aviation records secured from Epstein’s estate and disclosed by the committee. He has also been alleged by one of Epstein’s survivors, the late Virginia Giuffre, of abuse.
“The oversight committee will probe accusations of wrongdoing by Mountbatten Windsor, and will seek details on Epstein’s operations, network, and connections based on the men’s longstanding and extensively reported friendship,” the committee said in a announcement.
It sought details from Mountbatten Windsor on specifics of his friendship with Epstein, who killed himself in a New York jail cell in 2019. Andrew has always categorically denied any misconduct.
Substance of the Request
“It has been publicly reported that your friendship with Mr Epstein commenced in 1999 and that you continued associating through and after his 2008 sentencing for trafficking underage girls for sex work,” the letter said.
It stated further: “It has also been claimed that you traveled with Epstein to his New York residence, the Queen’s residence at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s personal island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been accused of harming young girls. This intimate friendship with Mr Epstein, combined with the newly disclosed 2011 digital communication in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further supports our suspicion that you may have important details about the offenses committed by Mr Epstein and his co-conspirators.”
A notification regarding the letter said it was co-signed by 13 other Democrats on the committee and requests a answer by 20 November.
Earlier Remarks and Assistance
The letter arrives a week after another Democrat on the committee stated: “Andrew should be summoned to appear before the committee. The people should be able to know who was harming women and minors alongside Epstein.”
However, the lawmaker does not hold the authority to subpoena the duke and Congress itself cannot force testimony from a non-US citizen.
In 2020, US authorities said that Mountbatten Windsor failed to respond to US demands for an meeting. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that authorities and the FBI had approached Andrew’s legal team to follow up on his earlier promise that he was “prepared to help any appropriate law enforcement agency”.
“It’s fair for people to know whether Prince Andrew has fulfilled with that assurance,” the attorney said, adding that to date he had “given zero cooperation”.
Appeals for Transparency
The representative said in a announcement that “rich and powerful men have evaded accountability for far too long. Now, one-time Prince Andrew has the opportunity to be honest and provide accountability for the victims. We will not stop advocating for accountability and openness for survivors of Epstein and his network of accomplices.”
Another signatory, a Virginia Democrat, said that after listening to evidence to the committee from Epstein’s accusers, as well as public reporting of disclosed papers, “it is essential that Andrew assists with the active inquiry. If he is not guilty, then he can prove his innocence.”
The lawmaker added: “And if not, our investigation will demonstrate that, and the survivors will receive belated accountability. The royal household’s actions taking away Andrew of his honors indicate there is additional to this situation.”
The letter was sent on the same day the British king publicly revoked Mountbatten Windsor of his royal title. Charles III officially made the alteration – which had been declared a week ago – by issuing a “official document” which the crown office made public in the Gazette, the UK’s government journal.
