Congressional Panel Seeks Questioning with Andrew in Epstein Inquiry
A US congressional panel investigating pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein has formally written to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, once Britain’s Prince Andrew, demanding that he participate in a deposition as part of its inquiry into Epstein’s wrongdoings.
In a document published on Thursday, a US representative, the senior Democrat on the House oversight panel, urged that King Charles III’s sibling assist with its probe.
The formal request to answer questions follows a week after Mountbatten Windsor was lost his princely title and opted to give up his rented residence in Windsor.
Records and Claims
Mountbatten Windsor’s name features in documents and travel logs secured from Epstein’s estate and publicly released by the committee. He has also been charged by one of Epstein’s survivors, the late Virginia Giuffre, of sexual assault.
“The oversight committee will examine claims of abuse by Mountbatten Windsor, and will demand data on Epstein’s operations, associates, and accomplices based on the men’s long-term and thoroughly recorded friendship,” the committee said in a press release.
It sought information from Mountbatten Windsor on specifics of his association with Epstein, who took his own life in a New York detention facility in 2019. Andrew has consistently strongly denied any wrongdoing.
Substance of the Communication
“It has been publicly reported that your association with Mr Epstein began in 1999 and that you stayed connected through and after his 2008 guilty verdict for trafficking underage girls for commercial sex acts,” the letter said.
It continued: “It has also been claimed that you went with Epstein to his New York property, the Queen’s residence at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s private island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been accused of assaulting young girls. This intimate friendship with Mr Epstein, along with the recently revealed 2011 email exchange in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further bolsters our concern that you may have important details about the crimes committed by Mr Epstein and his accomplices.”
A statement regarding the letter said it was endorsed by 13 other Democrats on the committee and demands a answer by 20 November.
Past Remarks and Assistance
The letter comes a week after another Democrat on the committee told: “Andrew should be asked to testify before the oversight committee. The people should be able to know who was harming women and young girls alongside Epstein.”
However, the lawmaker does not have the authority to compel the former prince and Congress itself cannot compel statements from a non-US citizen.
In 2020, US agencies said that Mountbatten Windsor did not respond to US demands for an meeting. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that authorities and the FBI had reached out to Andrew’s attorneys to inquire on his previous pledge that he was “ready to help any appropriate law enforcement agency”.
“It’s reasonable for people to know whether Prince Andrew has fulfilled with that public commitment,” the attorney said, adding that to date he had “offered no cooperation”.
Demands for Transparency
The representative said in a statement that “rich and influential men have escaped accountability for far too long. Now, former Prince Andrew has the opportunity to come clean and secure accountability for the survivors. We will not halt advocating for responsibility and openness for victims of Epstein and his network of accomplices.”
Another supporter, a Virginia Democrat, said that after listening to testimony to the committee from Epstein’s victims, as well as media coverage of released files, “it is vital that Andrew works together with the active inquiry. If he is not guilty, then he can clear his name.”
The lawmaker stated further: “And if not, our examination will show that, and the survivors will receive belated accountability. The royal household’s actions removing Andrew of his honors show there is further to this case.”
The letter was issued on the same day the British king publicly revoked Mountbatten Windsor of his royal title. Charles III publicly made the adjustment – which had been declared a week ago – by issuing a “official document” which the monarch’s office published in the Gazette, the UK’s public registry.