House Committee Asks for Questioning with Prince Andrew in Epstein Inquiry

A American legislative panel looking into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has sent a letter to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, previously Britain’s Prince Andrew, asking that he undergo an interview as part of its probe into Epstein’s wrongdoings.

In a letter made public on Thursday, a lawmaker, the leading Democrat on the House oversight committee, requested that King Charles III’s sibling cooperate with its investigation.

The formal request to answer questions follows a week after Mountbatten Windsor was stripped of his royal title and opted to vacate his property in Windsor.

Files and Allegations

Mountbatten Windsor’s name features in records and aviation records secured from Epstein’s estate and disclosed by the committee. He has also been accused by one of Epstein’s survivors, the late Virginia Giuffre, of sexual assault.

“The panel will examine allegations of abuse by Mountbatten Windsor, and will demand details on Epstein’s operations, circle, and associates based on the men’s long-term and extensively reported friendship,” the committee said in a announcement.

It sought details from Mountbatten Windsor on specifics of his relationship with Epstein, who died by suicide in a New York prison cell in 2019. Andrew has always vehemently rejected any impropriety.

Details of the Request

“It has been documented that your association with Mr Epstein commenced in 1999 and that you stayed connected through and after his 2008 conviction for procuring minors for prostitution,” the letter said.

It stated further: “It has also been claimed that you traveled with Epstein to his New York property, the Queen’s estate at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s personal island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been alleged of abusing young girls. This close relationship with Mr Epstein, along with the freshly uncovered 2011 digital communication in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further confirms our concern that you may have valuable information about the wrongdoings committed by Mr Epstein and his partners in crime.”

A notification regarding the letter said it was supported by 13 other Democrats on the committee and demands a response by 20 November.

Earlier Comments and Cooperation

The letter comes 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 assaulting women and minors alongside Epstein.”

However, the lawmaker does not hold the authority to compel the duke and Congress itself cannot compel testimony from a foreign national.

In 2020, US officials said that Mountbatten Windsor neglected to respond to US appeals for an interview. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that authorities and the FBI had reached out to Andrew’s lawyers to check on his public commitment that he was “prepared to help any appropriate law enforcement agency”.

“It’s fair for people to know whether Prince Andrew has fulfilled with that pledge,” the attorney said, adding that to date he had “provided no cooperation”.

Demands for Justice

The lawmaker said in a statement that “affluent and powerful men have evaded the law for far too long. Now, ex- Prince Andrew has the chance to come clean and secure accountability for the affected individuals. The committee will not halt advocating for answerability and openness for victims of Epstein and his network of co-conspirators.”

Another endorser, a Virginia Democrat, said that after hearing testimony to the committee from Epstein’s survivors, as well as public reporting of leaked documents, “it is crucial that Andrew assists with the ongoing inquiry. If he is not guilty, then he can clear his name.”

The lawmaker continued: “And if not, our investigation will demonstrate that, and the victims will receive belated justice. The monarchy’s actions stripping Andrew of his honors indicate there is additional to this story.”

The letter was issued on the same day the British king formally stripped Mountbatten Windsor of his princely title. Charles III officially made the alteration – which had been declared a week ago – by issuing a “letters patent” which the royal office made public in the Gazette, the UK’s government journal.