House Committee Requests Interview with Prince Andrew in Epstein Probe
A US congressional panel probing sex offender financier Jeffrey Epstein has sent a letter to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, formerly Britain’s Prince Andrew, demanding that he undergo a deposition as part of its investigation into Epstein’s criminal operations.
In a communication released on Thursday, a California congressman, the senior Democrat on the House investigative committee, requested that King Charles III’s brother cooperate with its inquiry.
The official demand to respond to queries arrives a week after Mountbatten Windsor was relieved of his royal title and consented to vacate his property in Windsor.
Files and Allegations
Mountbatten Windsor’s name is listed in documents and flight logs secured from Epstein’s estate and disclosed by the committee. He has also been charged by one of Epstein’s accusers, the late Virginia Giuffre, of abuse.
“The panel will examine claims of misconduct by Mountbatten Windsor, and will request data on Epstein’s network, associates, and accomplices based on the men’s enduring and thoroughly recorded friendship,” the committee said in a statement.
It requested information from Mountbatten Windsor on particulars of his relationship with Epstein, who died by suicide in a New York prison cell in 2019. Andrew has always vehemently rejected any impropriety.
Content of the Letter
“It has been widely reported that your association with Mr Epstein started in 1999 and that you stayed connected through and after his 2008 sentencing for trafficking underage girls for sex work,” the letter said.
It added: “It has also been alleged that you traveled with Epstein to his New York home, the Queen’s residence at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s secluded island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been accused of assaulting minors. This close relationship with Mr Epstein, combined with the freshly uncovered 2011 electronic correspondence 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 announcement regarding the letter said it was supported by 13 other Democrats on the committee and demands a reply by 20 November.
Earlier Remarks and Collaboration
The letter arrives a week after another Democrat on the committee stated: “Andrew should be called to testify before the oversight committee. The citizens should be able to know who was abusing women and underage individuals alongside Epstein.”
However, the lawmaker does not have the authority to subpoena the ex-royal and Congress itself cannot force evidence from a non-US citizen.
In 2020, US agencies said that Mountbatten Windsor did not reply to US appeals for an interview. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that prosecutors and the FBI had approached Andrew’s attorneys to follow up on his previous pledge that he was “ready to help any suitable law enforcement agency”.
“It’s fair for people to know whether Prince Andrew has followed through with that pledge,” the attorney said, adding that to date he had “provided absolutely no cooperation”.
Calls for Transparency
The congressman said in a statement that “rich and influential men have escaped the law for far too long. Now, one-time Prince Andrew has the chance to be honest and deliver redress for the victims. We will not stop pushing for answerability and clarity for survivors of Epstein and his gang of partners.”
Another signatory, a Virginia Democrat, said that after receiving accounts to the committee from Epstein’s accusers, as well as public reporting of released files, “it is crucial that Andrew assists with the active probe. If he is innocent, then he can clear his name.”
The lawmaker stated further: “And if not, our probe will show that, and the victims will receive long overdue accountability. The royal household’s actions taking away Andrew of his styles show there is further to this situation.”
The letter was issued on the same day the British king officially removed Mountbatten Windsor of his royal title. Charles III formally made the alteration – which had been revealed a week ago – by issuing a “official document” which the royal office made public in the Gazette, the UK’s official public record.
