House Panel Asks for Interview with Prince Andrew in Jeffrey Epstein Investigation
A US congressional committee looking into sex offender financier Jeffrey Epstein has sent a letter to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, previously Britain’s Prince Andrew, asking that he participate in an interview as part of its inquiry into Epstein’s illegal activities.
In a letter made public on Thursday, a lawmaker, the leading Democrat on the House investigative committee, asked that King Charles III’s brother assist with its inquiry.
The official demand to provide testimony comes a week after Mountbatten Windsor was lost his HRH style and opted to give up his property in Windsor.
Records and Allegations
Mountbatten Windsor’s name features in documents and travel logs subpoenaed from Epstein’s estate and made public 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 claims of abuse by Mountbatten Windsor, and will request details on Epstein’s network, network, and connections based on the men’s long-term and extensively reported friendship,” the committee said in a press release.
It sought information from Mountbatten Windsor on particulars of his friendship with Epstein, who died by suicide in a New York prison cell in 2019. Andrew has consistently categorically denied any wrongdoing.
Content of the Request
“It has been documented that your relationship with Mr Epstein started in 1999 and that you stayed connected through and after his 2008 conviction for trafficking underage girls for prostitution,” the letter said.
It added: “It has also been reported that you journeyed with Epstein to his New York home, the Queen’s estate at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s private island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been charged of abusing underage individuals. This close relationship with Mr Epstein, combined with the freshly uncovered 2011 digital communication in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further confirms our belief that you may have important details about the crimes committed by Mr Epstein and his co-conspirators.”
A announcement regarding the letter said it was co-signed by 13 other Democrats on the committee and asks a response by 20 November.
Previous Comments and Collaboration
The letter arrives a week after another Democrat on the committee stated: “Andrew should be called to appear before the oversight committee. The people deserves to know who was harming women and minors alongside Epstein.”
However, the lawmaker does not possess the ability to legally require the duke and Congress itself cannot oblige statements from a non-US citizen.
In 2020, US authorities said that Mountbatten Windsor did not cooperate to US appeals 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 inquire on his previous pledge that he was “willing to help any relevant law enforcement agency”.
“It’s reasonable for people to know whether Prince Andrew has fulfilled with that assurance,” the attorney said, adding that to date he had “offered absolutely no cooperation”.
Appeals for Justice
The congressman said in a statement that “rich and powerful men have avoided justice for far too long. Now, one-time Prince Andrew has the opportunity to be honest and provide redress for the victims. The committee will not stop advocating for answerability and transparency for victims of Epstein and his network of accomplices.”
Another supporter, a Virginia Democrat, said that after listening to accounts to the committee from Epstein’s survivors, as well as media coverage of leaked documents, “it is crucial that Andrew works together with the current investigation. If he is innocent, then he can clear his name.”
The lawmaker added: “And if not, our examination will demonstrate that, and the victims will receive belated justice. The royal household’s actions taking away Andrew of his titles suggest there is additional to this situation.”
The letter was issued on the same day the British king publicly removed Mountbatten Windsor of his HRH style. Charles III publicly made the change – which had been declared a week ago – by issuing a “royal decree” which the royal office published in the Gazette, the UK’s official public record.