House Committee Seeks Interview with Andrew in Epstein Inquiry
A American legislative body looking into pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein has sent a letter to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, once Britain’s Prince Andrew, asking that he participate in a deposition as part of its investigation into Epstein’s illegal activities.
In a document released on Thursday, a US representative, the top Democrat on the House oversight committee, asked that King Charles III’s sibling cooperate with its investigation.
The formal request to provide testimony comes a week after Mountbatten Windsor was relieved of his royal title and consented to give up his leased home in Windsor.
Files and Claims
Mountbatten Windsor’s name is listed in papers and flight logs obtained from Epstein’s estate and publicly released by the committee. He has also been charged by one of Epstein’s victims, the late Virginia Giuffre, of misconduct.
“The oversight committee will probe allegations of abuse by Mountbatten Windsor, and will seek data on Epstein’s network, circle, and associates based on the men’s enduring and well-documented friendship,” the committee said in a press release.
It demanded information from Mountbatten Windsor on specifics of his association with Epstein, who took his own life in a New York prison cell in 2019. Andrew has repeatedly vehemently rejected any wrongdoing.
Details of the Request
“It has been documented that your friendship with Mr Epstein commenced in 1999 and that you stayed connected through and after his 2008 conviction for soliciting minors 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 residence at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s personal island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been charged of abusing young girls. This intimate friendship with Mr Epstein, combined with the recently revealed 2011 digital communication 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 co-signed by 13 other Democrats on the committee and demands a response by 20 November.
Earlier Remarks and Collaboration
The letter comes a week after another Democrat on the committee stated: “Andrew should be summoned to testify before the committee. The citizens deserves to know who was harming women and minors alongside Epstein.”
However, the congressman does not possess the power to legally require the former prince and Congress itself cannot compel testimony from a foreign national.
In 2020, US officials said that Mountbatten Windsor did not reply to US appeals 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 attorneys to check on his previous pledge that he was “prepared to help any appropriate law enforcement agency”.
“It’s just for people to know whether Prince Andrew has fulfilled with that pledge,” the attorney said, adding that to date he had “offered absolutely no cooperation”.
Calls for Accountability
The lawmaker said in a statement that “affluent and well-connected men have escaped justice for far too long. Now, former Prince Andrew has the chance to come clean and deliver accountability for the affected individuals. Oversight Democrats will not stop fighting for responsibility and transparency for survivors of Epstein and his network of accomplices.”
Another endorser, a Virginia Democrat, said that after listening to accounts to the committee from Epstein’s survivors, as well as media coverage of disclosed papers, “it is vital that Andrew works together with the current probe. If he is not guilty, then he can prove his innocence.”
The lawmaker stated further: “And if not, our examination will reveal that, and the survivors will receive much-delayed accountability. The royal household’s actions stripping Andrew of his honors show there is more to this situation.”
The letter was sent on the same day the British king publicly revoked Mountbatten Windsor of his royal title. Charles III publicly made the adjustment – which had been announced a week ago – by issuing a “official document” which the royal office published in the Gazette, the UK’s government journal.
