Congressional Panel Seeks Questioning with Prince Andrew in Jeffrey Epstein Inquiry
A American legislative panel looking into pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein has reached out to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, previously Britain’s Prince Andrew, asking that he undergo an interview as part of its inquiry into Epstein’s wrongdoings.
In a letter made public on Thursday, a US representative, the top Democrat on the House oversight committee, asked that King Charles III’s younger brother help with its investigation.
The written appeal to respond to queries comes a week after Mountbatten Windsor was lost his HRH style and opted to give up his rented residence in Windsor.
Documents and Accusations
Mountbatten Windsor’s name appears in papers and travel logs secured from Epstein’s estate and disclosed by the committee. He has also been alleged by one of Epstein’s accusers, the late Virginia Giuffre, of abuse.
“The oversight committee will investigate accusations of abuse by Mountbatten Windsor, and will request details on Epstein’s operations, associates, and connections based on the men’s enduring and extensively reported friendship,” the committee said in a statement.
It sought information from Mountbatten Windsor on details of his association with Epstein, who took his own life in a New York prison cell in 2019. Andrew has repeatedly strongly denied any misconduct.
Details of the Letter
“It has been widely reported that your friendship with Mr Epstein commenced in 1999 and that you remained close through and after his 2008 conviction for trafficking underage girls for commercial sex acts,” the letter said.
It stated further: “It has also been reported that you journeyed with Epstein to his New York residence, the Queen’s home at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s private island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been charged of harming minors. This intimate friendship with Mr Epstein, coupled with the newly disclosed 2011 email exchange in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further confirms our belief that you may have key insights about the crimes committed by Mr Epstein and his partners in crime.”
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 follows a week after another Democrat on the committee commented: “Andrew should be asked to testify before the oversight committee. The people deserves to know who was assaulting women and minors alongside Epstein.”
However, the representative does not have the power to subpoena the former prince and Congress itself cannot force testimony from a foreign national.
In 2020, US authorities said that Mountbatten Windsor failed to respond to US requests for an meeting. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that lawyers and the FBI had approached Andrew’s attorneys to follow up on his earlier promise that he was “prepared to help any relevant law enforcement agency”.
“It’s reasonable for people to know whether Prince Andrew has followed through with that public commitment,” the attorney said, adding that to date he had “provided absolutely no cooperation”.
Demands for Transparency
The representative said in a announcement that “affluent and well-connected men have escaped accountability for far too long. Now, former Prince Andrew has the opportunity to come clean and deliver accountability for the survivors. We will not stop advocating for accountability and transparency for victims of Epstein and his gang of accomplices.”
Another supporter, a Virginia Democrat, said that after listening to accounts to the committee from Epstein’s victims, as well as news accounts of leaked documents, “it is vital that Andrew assists with the ongoing investigation. If he is not guilty, then he can clear his name.”
The lawmaker added: “And if not, our investigation will show that, and the survivors will receive much-delayed redress. The monarchy’s actions taking away Andrew of his styles suggest there is more to this case.”
The letter was issued on the same day the British king formally stripped Mountbatten Windsor of his royal title. Charles III formally made the adjustment – which had been revealed a week ago – by issuing a “letters patent” which the monarch’s office released in the Gazette, the UK’s official public record.