🔗 Share this article

A Democratic congressman has demanded the former prince Andrew Windsor to testify before the House of Representatives committee that is carrying out an investigation into the official handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case.

Cross-Party Pressure for Testimony

The declaration from Ro Khanna, a California Democratic representative who serves on the House oversight committee, follows a UK trade minister, Chris Bryant, indicated that since the former prince has been stripped of his royal titles, he should respond to requests for details about his connections to Jeffrey Epstein, an accused sex trafficker who took his own life while in federal custody six years ago.

“Just as with any regular citizen, if there were requests from another jurisdiction of this kind, I would expect any reasonable individual to honor that request,” the minister said.

The congressman commented: “Andrew should be called to testify before the oversight committee. The public deserves to know who was exploiting women and minors alongside Epstein.”

Partisan Environment and Probe Progress

GOP members hold the majority in the House of Representatives, but following public pressure over Donald Trump’s handling of the Epstein case approved an inquiry by the House committee into how the government handled his prosecutions. Public interest surged in July, after the justice department announced that a widely speculated list of Epstein’s associates was non-existent, and it would provide no additional information on the case.

The congressional probe has so far led to the release of tens of thousands of pages – including a lewd drawing apparently made by Donald Trump for Epstein’s birthday – as well as depositions from ex-government leaders.

Legal Efforts and Obstacles

As a minority party member, the representative lacks the authority to compel Mountbatten Windsor’s testimony. Spokespeople for the committee’s Republican chair, James Comer, did not respond to questions about whether he thinks the ex-royal should be interviewed.

Khanna and Republican Congressman Massie have proposed legislation 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. The two congressmen have circulated a discharge petition that will force a vote on the bill, if a majority of representatives sign it.

“This is what my campaign with Representative Massie has been about: transparency and accountability for the victims who have been bravely sharing their stories,” Khanna said.

The petition has been endorsed by all 213 Democratic representatives, as well as four GOP members. The 218th signature is expected to be Adelita Grijalva, who was elected in Arizona last month, and awaits inauguration by Johnson. However, the speaker has refused to do so until the House comes back into session, and says he will not tell representatives to return to Washington until the Senate passes a bill to end the ongoing government shutdown.