Congressional Committee Seeks Questioning with Andrew in Epstein Inquiry
A US congressional committee probing pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein has formally written to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, previously Britain’s Prince Andrew, requesting that he submit to questioning as part of its inquiry into Epstein’s wrongdoings.
In a communication released on Thursday, a California congressman, the top Democrat on the House oversight committee, urged that King Charles III’s younger brother help with its investigation.
The written appeal to answer questions arrives a week after Mountbatten Windsor was relieved of his HRH style and consented to vacate his leased home in Windsor.
Files and Allegations
Mountbatten Windsor’s name is listed in documents and flight logs secured from Epstein’s estate and publicly released by the committee. He has also been alleged by one of Epstein’s survivors, the late Virginia Giuffre, of abuse.
“The committee will probe claims of misconduct by Mountbatten Windsor, and will demand data on Epstein’s activities, network, and accomplices based on the men’s longstanding and thoroughly recorded friendship,” the committee said in a press release.
It demanded details 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 consistently vehemently rejected any misconduct.
Content of the Communication
“It has been publicly reported that your association with Mr Epstein started in 1999 and that you stayed connected through and after his 2008 sentencing for procuring minors for commercial sex acts,” the letter said.
It stated further: “It has also been reported that you went with Epstein to his New York residence, the Queen’s home at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s personal island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been accused of abusing underage individuals. This strong bond with Mr Epstein, coupled with the recently revealed 2011 email exchange in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further supports our suspicion that you may have important details about the offenses committed by Mr Epstein and his partners in crime.”
A statement regarding the letter said it was supported by 13 other Democrats on the committee and asks a reply by 20 November.
Earlier Statements and Assistance
The letter arrives a week after another Democrat on the committee told: “Andrew should be summoned to give evidence before the oversight committee. The public deserves to know who was abusing women and underage individuals alongside Epstein.”
However, the congressman does not have the ability to legally require the duke and Congress itself cannot compel statements from a non-US citizen.
In 2020, US officials said that Mountbatten Windsor did not cooperate to US requests for an meeting. 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 “ready to help any relevant law enforcement agency”.
“It’s just for people to know whether Prince Andrew has honored with that pledge,” the attorney said, adding that to date he had “provided no cooperation”.
Calls for Transparency
The congressman said in a comment that “rich and well-connected men have escaped the law for far too long. Now, former Prince Andrew has the opportunity to come clean and deliver accountability for the affected individuals. Oversight Democrats will not halt advocating for answerability and clarity for survivors of Epstein and his group of accomplices.”
Another supporter, a Virginia Democrat, said that after receiving testimony to the committee from Epstein’s accusers, as well as public reporting of leaked documents, “it is vital that Andrew assists with the ongoing inquiry. If he is blameless, then he can clear his name.”
The lawmaker added: “And if not, our investigation will demonstrate that, and the survivors will receive belated accountability. The royal household’s actions stripping Andrew of his honors suggest there is more to this situation.”
The letter was sent on the same day the British king publicly stripped Mountbatten Windsor of his HRH style. Charles III formally made the change – which had been declared a week ago – by issuing a “royal decree” which the monarch’s office released in the Gazette, the UK’s public registry.
