🔗 Share this article House Committee Requests Interview with the Duke of York in Jeffrey Epstein Inquiry A American legislative committee investigating convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has formally written to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, formerly Britain’s Prince Andrew, demanding that he submit to questioning as part of its probe into Epstein’s wrongdoings. In a letter released on Thursday, a US representative, the top Democrat on the House investigative committee, asked that King Charles III’s younger brother help with its inquiry. The written appeal to respond to queries comes a week after Mountbatten Windsor was stripped of his royal title and opted to surrender his rented residence in Windsor. Records and Accusations Mountbatten Windsor’s name features in documents and travel logs secured from Epstein’s estate and made public by the committee. He has also been accused by one of Epstein’s survivors, the late Virginia Giuffre, of abuse. “The panel will investigate claims of abuse by Mountbatten Windsor, and will request information on Epstein’s network, circle, and associates based on the men’s enduring and extensively reported friendship,” the committee said in a press release. It requested particulars from Mountbatten Windsor on specifics of his relationship with Epstein, who killed himself in a New York prison cell in 2019. Andrew has repeatedly vehemently rejected any wrongdoing. Substance of the Letter “It has been documented that your friendship with Mr Epstein commenced in 1999 and that you remained close through and after his 2008 guilty verdict for trafficking underage girls for commercial sex acts,” the letter said. It stated further: “It has also been claimed 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 charged of abusing underage individuals. This intimate friendship with Mr Epstein, coupled with the recently revealed 2011 digital communication 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 accomplices.” A announcement regarding the letter said it was endorsed by 13 other Democrats on the committee and requests a answer by 20 November. Earlier Remarks and Collaboration The letter arrives a week after another Democrat on the committee stated: “Andrew should be asked to appear before the oversight committee. The people deserves to know who was assaulting women and underage individuals alongside Epstein.” However, the representative does not hold the authority to subpoena the former prince and Congress itself cannot force statements from a foreign national. In 2020, US agencies said that Mountbatten Windsor neglected to cooperate to US requests 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 legal team to check on his previous pledge that he was “ready to help any suitable law enforcement agency”. “It’s just for people to know whether Prince Andrew has honored with that assurance,” the attorney said, adding that to date he had “offered zero cooperation”. Appeals for Accountability The congressman said in a announcement that “affluent and influential men have avoided accountability for far too long. Now, one-time Prince Andrew has the opportunity to come clean and provide accountability for the survivors. The committee will not cease fighting for answerability and openness for victims of Epstein and his network of partners.” Another supporter, a Virginia Democrat, said that after receiving accounts to the committee from Epstein’s survivors, as well as news accounts of released files, “it is crucial that Andrew works together with the current investigation. If he is blameless, then he can vindicate himself.” The lawmaker stated further: “And if not, our investigation will reveal that, and the affected individuals will receive long overdue justice. The Royal Family’s actions taking away Andrew of his styles show there is more to this case.” The letter was issued on the same day the British king publicly revoked Mountbatten Windsor of his royal title. Charles III formally made the change – which had been declared a week ago – by issuing a “official document” which the royal office made public in the Gazette, the UK’s official public record.