House Panel Requests Interview with Andrew in Jeffrey Epstein Inquiry
A US congressional panel investigating convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has sent a letter to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, once Britain’s Prince Andrew, demanding that he participate in an interview as part of its probe into Epstein’s wrongdoings.
In a communication made public on Thursday, a US representative, the leading Democrat on the House oversight committee, requested that King Charles III’s sibling assist with its investigation.
The formal request to provide testimony comes a week after Mountbatten Windsor was lost his HRH style and opted to vacate his rented residence in Windsor.
Files and Claims
Mountbatten Windsor’s name features in documents and flight logs obtained from Epstein’s estate and made public by the committee. He has also been alleged by one of Epstein’s accusers, the late Virginia Giuffre, of misconduct.
“The panel will examine accusations of wrongdoing by Mountbatten Windsor, and will demand information on Epstein’s operations, associates, and accomplices based on the men’s longstanding and extensively reported friendship,” the committee said in a press release.
It requested particulars from Mountbatten Windsor on particulars of his association with Epstein, who took his own life in a New York jail cell in 2019. Andrew has consistently vehemently rejected any wrongdoing.
Details of the Communication
“It has been documented that your association with Mr Epstein started in 1999 and that you stayed connected through and after his 2008 guilty verdict for trafficking underage girls for sex work,” the letter said.
It added: “It has also been alleged that you went 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 abusing young girls. This intimate friendship with Mr Epstein, along with the newly disclosed 2011 email exchange in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further supports our suspicion that you may have valuable information about the crimes committed by Mr Epstein and his accomplices.”
A statement regarding the letter said it was endorsed by 13 other Democrats on the committee and requests a response by 20 November.
Earlier Remarks and Collaboration
The letter comes a week after another Democrat on the committee told: “Andrew should be called to give evidence before the oversight committee. The public has the right to know who was harming women and young girls alongside Epstein.”
However, the representative does not possess the authority to subpoena the duke and Congress itself cannot compel testimony from a foreign national.
In 2020, US authorities said that Mountbatten Windsor neglected to respond to US demands for an meeting. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that prosecutors and the FBI had reached out to Andrew’s legal team to follow up on his earlier promise that he was “ready to help any suitable law enforcement agency”.
“It’s reasonable for people to know whether Prince Andrew has honored with that pledge,” the attorney said, adding that to date he had “offered absolutely no cooperation”.
Calls for Transparency
The representative said in a announcement that “wealthy and well-connected men have evaded the law for far too long. Now, former Prince Andrew has the option to come clean and secure justice for the survivors. The committee will not halt advocating for accountability and clarity for those affected of Epstein and his group of co-conspirators.”
Another endorser, a Virginia Democrat, said that after receiving testimony to the committee from Epstein’s survivors, as well as media coverage of disclosed papers, “it is vital that Andrew assists with the current investigation. If he is not guilty, then he can prove his innocence.”
The lawmaker added: “And if not, our investigation will reveal that, and the victims will receive much-delayed justice. The monarchy’s actions taking away Andrew of his honors indicate there is further to this story.”
The letter was sent on the same day the British king officially stripped Mountbatten Windsor of his royal title. Charles III formally made the change – which had been revealed a week ago – by issuing a “letters patent” which the royal office published in the Gazette, the UK’s government journal.
