🔗 Share this article

A Democratic Party representative has publicly called for the former prince Andrew Mountbatten Windsor to testify before the House of Representatives committee that is carrying out an inquiry into the official handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case.

Bipartisan Demands for Testimony

The statement from Congressman Khanna, a Democratic representative from California who is a member of the House oversight committee, follows a UK trade minister, Chris Bryant, suggested that since the former prince has been stripped of his royal status, he should respond to requests for details about his dealings with 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 formal requests from overseas of this kind, I would anticipate any decently minded person to comply with that request,” Bryant said.

Khanna stated: “Andrew should be summoned to appear before the investigative committee. The public deserves to know who was exploiting women and minors with Epstein.”

Political Landscape and Investigation Progress

Republicans hold the majority in the House, but amid public outcry over Donald Trump’s handling of the Epstein matter approved an inquiry by the House committee into how the government handled his prosecutions. Public interest surged in July, after the justice department revealed that a much-rumored list of Epstein’s associates was non-existent, and it would provide no additional information on the case.

The House investigation has so far led to the publication of thousands of documents – including an explicit sketch reportedly drawn by 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, declined to comment about whether he thinks the ex-royal should be questioned.

Khanna and Thomas Massie have introduced a bill to force the release of files related to Epstein, but Mike Johnson, a top ally of the president, has refused to bring it up for a vote. The two congressmen have distributed a petition that will require the bill be voted on, if a majority of representatives sign it.

“This is what my effort with Representative Massie has been about: openness and justice for the survivors who have been bravely sharing their stories,” the lawmaker said.

The appeal has been endorsed by all 213 Democratic representatives, as well as four GOP members. The 218th signature is expected to be Representative-elect Grijalva, who won a special election in the state of Arizona last month, and awaits inauguration by Johnson. However, the speaker has refused to do so until the House comes back into session, and has stated he won’t instruct representatives to return to Washington until the Senate approves a measure to resolve the federal shutdown.