House Committee Seeks Questioning with Prince Andrew in Epstein Inquiry
A US congressional body investigating sex offender financier Jeffrey Epstein has formally written to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, once Britain’s Prince Andrew, asking that he participate in a deposition as part of its investigation into Epstein’s wrongdoings.
In a letter released on Thursday, a California congressman, the senior Democrat on the House oversight panel, urged that King Charles III’s younger brother assist with its investigation.
The official demand to answer questions arrives a week after Mountbatten Windsor was relieved of his HRH style and consented to vacate his leased home in Windsor.
Records and Allegations
Mountbatten Windsor’s name appears in records and travel logs subpoenaed from Epstein’s estate and publicly released by the committee. He has also been accused by one of Epstein’s survivors, the late Virginia Giuffre, of abuse.
“The panel will probe allegations of wrongdoing by Mountbatten Windsor, and will request details on Epstein’s network, circle, and connections based on the men’s enduring and well-documented friendship,” the committee said in a press release.
It sought details from Mountbatten Windsor on details of his relationship with Epstein, who took his own life in a New York detention facility in 2019. Andrew has always vehemently rejected any impropriety.
Substance of the Communication
“It has been documented that your relationship with Mr Epstein commenced in 1999 and that you continued associating through and after his 2008 conviction for procuring minors for commercial sex acts,” the letter said.
It added: “It has also been alleged that you journeyed with Epstein to his New York property, the Queen’s home at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s personal island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been alleged of harming underage individuals. This intimate friendship with Mr Epstein, coupled with the recently revealed 2011 email exchange in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further confirms our concern that you may have key insights about the offenses committed by Mr Epstein and his accomplices.”
A announcement regarding the letter said it was co-signed by 13 other Democrats on the committee and asks a reply by 20 November.
Earlier Comments and Collaboration
The letter follows a week after another Democrat on the committee commented: “Andrew should be called to testify before the committee. The people deserves to know who was assaulting women and underage individuals alongside Epstein.”
However, the representative does not hold the authority to legally require the former prince and Congress itself cannot oblige testimony from a foreign national.
In 2020, US authorities said that Mountbatten Windsor neglected to respond to US requests for an interview. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that lawyers and the FBI had contacted Andrew’s lawyers to inquire 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 followed through with that assurance,” the attorney said, adding that to date he had “offered absolutely no cooperation”.
Appeals for Justice
The congressman said in a comment that “rich and influential men have evaded the law for far too long. Now, ex- Prince Andrew has the option to be honest and secure redress for the victims. We will not stop advocating for responsibility and clarity for victims of Epstein and his network of accomplices.”
Another supporter, a Virginia Democrat, said that after receiving testimony to the committee from Epstein’s survivors, as well as media coverage of released files, “it is essential that Andrew cooperates with the current probe. If he is not guilty, then he can vindicate himself.”
The lawmaker added: “And if not, our examination will demonstrate that, and the survivors will receive long overdue justice. The Royal Family’s actions removing Andrew of his titles suggest there is further to this case.”
The letter was issued on the same day the British king officially stripped Mountbatten Windsor of his royal title. Charles III officially made the adjustment – which had been declared a week ago – by issuing a “royal decree” which the monarch’s office published in the Gazette, the UK’s public registry.
