House Democrats Call for Former Prince Andrew to Appear for Questioning About Jeffrey Epstein

London- Democrats on the House Oversight Committee sent a letter Thursday to former Prince Andrew, now Andrew Mountbatten Windsorcalling for the disgraced British royal to appear before Congress to be questioned about his past ties to the late sex offender. Jeffrey Epstein.

“The Committee seeks to uncover the identities of Mr. Epstein’s accomplices and enablers and understand the full scope of his criminal operations,” said the letter, which was signed by the committee’s top Democrat, Rep. Robert Garcia, and 14 others.

“The well-documented allegations against you, along with your long-standing friendship with Mr. Epstein, indicate that you may have knowledge of his activities relevant to our investigation. In the interest of justice for Jeffrey Epstein’s victims, we ask that you cooperate with the Committee’s investigation by attending a transcribed interview with the Committee,” the US lawmakers said.

Neither Garcia nor the committee has the power to subpoena Andrew, who was formally stripped of the title of prince on Thursday.

No Republicans on the House committee signed the letter.

The communication cited Andrew’s widely publicized friendship with Epstein, which continued after the American financier’s 2008 conviction for recruiting minors into prostitution. He also mentioned Andrew’s visits to Epstein’s residences in New York and the US Virgin Islands, as well as Epstein’s trip to the late Queen Elizabeth II’s residence in Balmoral, Scotland.

“This close relationship with Mr. Epstein, along with the recently revealed email exchange in 2011 in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together,’ further confirms our suspicion that you may have valuable information about the crimes committed by Mr. Epstein and his co-conspirators,” the letter said.

He also cited a series of allegations from the late Virginia Giuffre, including that Epstein “loaned” her to Andrew on several occasions.

“In response to a subpoena issued to the Epstein estate, the Committee has identified financial records containing notations such as ‘massage for Andrew’ that raise serious questions about the nature of your relationship with Mr. Epstein and related financial transactions,” the letter said.

House Democrats also pointed to Giuffre’s memoir, which was published posthumously this year, in which she mentioned her fear that Andrew would retaliate if she published allegations against her.

“This fear of retaliation has been a persistent obstacle for many of those who were victims in their fight for justice. In addition to Mr. Epstein’s crimes, we are investigating any such efforts to silence, intimidate, or threaten victims, and we are interested in any avenues that may shed more light on these activities,” the letter said.

Andrew was asked to respond to the letter by November 20, “due to the urgency and seriousness of this matter.”

He was stripped of his “Royal Highness” and “Prince” titles on Thursday, and last month renounced other royal titles, including “Duke of York.”

He had already resigned from his public duties as a member of the royal family in 2019, after a disastrous interview with the BBC about his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein.

After allowing his younger brother to slowly and willingly renounce his royal honors for months, King Charles III announced abruptly on October 30, after further revelations about Andrew’s past ties to Epstein, that he would be stripped of titles and evicted from his former 30-room mansion on the Windsor estate.

Buckingham Palace declined to comment on US lawmakers’ request for the former prince to make official comments, and there was no immediate response from Andrew to a News themezone request for comment on the matter.