House Committee Seeks Questioning with Prince Andrew in Epstein Probe
A American legislative committee investigating pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein has sent a letter to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, previously Britain’s Prince Andrew, demanding that he participate in an interview as part of its probe into Epstein’s wrongdoings.
In a document released on Thursday, a US representative, the leading Democrat on the House oversight committee, requested that King Charles III’s sibling help with its probe.
The official demand to provide testimony arrives a week after Mountbatten Windsor was stripped of his princely title and opted to surrender his rented residence in Windsor.
Records and Accusations
Mountbatten Windsor’s name appears in records and flight logs subpoenaed from Epstein’s estate and made public by the committee. He has also been accused by one of Epstein’s survivors, the late Virginia Giuffre, of abuse.
“The panel will investigate claims of misconduct by Mountbatten Windsor, and will demand data on Epstein’s activities, circle, and accomplices based on the men’s long-term and extensively reported friendship,” the committee said in a announcement.
It requested information from Mountbatten Windsor on details of his relationship with Epstein, who took his own life in a New York prison cell in 2019. Andrew has consistently categorically denied any wrongdoing.
Details of the Request
“It has been documented that your association with Mr Epstein commenced in 1999 and that you continued associating through and after his 2008 guilty verdict for trafficking underage girls for sex work,” the letter said.
It stated further: “It has also been claimed that you journeyed with Epstein to his New York property, 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 minors. This strong bond with Mr Epstein, along with the recently revealed 2011 email exchange in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further supports our concern that you may have key insights about the offenses committed by Mr Epstein and his partners in crime.”
A notification regarding the letter said it was co-signed by 13 other Democrats on the committee and asks a answer by 20 November.
Earlier Remarks and Cooperation
The letter comes a week after another Democrat on the committee commented: “Andrew should be summoned to testify before the committee. The people deserves to know who was assaulting women and young girls alongside Epstein.”
However, the lawmaker does not have the power to subpoena the ex-royal and Congress itself cannot oblige testimony from a overseas individual.
In 2020, US authorities said that Mountbatten Windsor neglected to reply 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 lawyers to check 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 followed through with that pledge,” the attorney said, adding that to date he had “provided no cooperation”.
Calls for Accountability
The representative said in a announcement that “rich and powerful men have avoided the law for far too long. Now, ex- Prince Andrew has the option to tell the truth and secure accountability for the victims. The committee will not halt advocating for responsibility and clarity for survivors of Epstein and his network of partners.”
Another endorser, a Virginia Democrat, said that after receiving evidence to the committee from Epstein’s survivors, as well as public reporting of leaked documents, “it is vital that Andrew works together with the current probe. If he is not guilty, then he can clear his name.”
The lawmaker added: “And if not, our examination will reveal that, and the affected individuals will receive belated accountability. The royal household’s actions stripping Andrew of his honors suggest there is further to this story.”
The letter came on the same day the British king officially revoked Mountbatten Windsor of his royal title. Charles III formally made the adjustment – which had been revealed a week ago – by issuing a “official document” which the crown office published in the Gazette, the UK’s public registry.