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A Democratic Party congressman has demanded the former prince Andrew Mountbatten Windsor to appear before the House of Representatives investigative panel that is currently conducting an investigation into the official handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case.

Cross-Party Pressure for Evidence

The declaration from Ro Khanna, a California Democratic representative who serves on the investigative House oversight committee, follows a UK trade minister, Chris Bryant, indicated that since the former prince has been stripped of his royal status, he should respond to requests for details about his connections to Jeffrey Epstein, an accused sex trafficker who took his own life while in federal custody six years ago.

“Just as with any regular citizen, if there were requests from another jurisdiction of this kind, I would anticipate any decently minded person to comply with that request,” Bryant said.

Khanna commented: “Andrew should be summoned to appear before the oversight committee. The people have a right to know who was abusing women and young girls with Epstein.”

Political Environment and Investigation Progress

GOP members control the majority in the House of Representatives, but following public pressure over Donald Trump’s handling of the Epstein matter approved an inquiry by the House committee into how the government handled his legal proceedings. Interest in the case flared in July, after the Department of Justice announced that a widely speculated list of Epstein’s sex trafficking clients was non-existent, and it would share nothing further on the case.

The House investigation has so far led to the publication of tens of thousands of pages – including a lewd drawing reportedly drawn by Donald Trump for Epstein’s 50th birthday – as well as depositions from former top government officials.

Legislative Efforts and Challenges

As a minority party member, the representative does not have the power to subpoena Mountbatten Windsor’s testimony. Spokespeople for the Republican committee chairman, James Comer, did not respond to questions about whether he thinks the ex-royal should be interviewed.

The Democrat and Thomas Massie have proposed legislation to mandate the disclosure of files related to Epstein, but House Speaker Johnson, a key presidential supporter, has refused to bring it up for a vote. The two congressmen have distributed a petition that will require the bill be voted on, if 218 members of the House endorse it.

“This is what my effort with Representative Massie has been about: openness and accountability for the survivors who have been bravely sharing their stories,” the lawmaker said.

The appeal has been signed by all 213 Democratic representatives, as well as four GOP members. The final required signature is expected to be Representative-elect Grijalva, who was elected in Arizona last month, and awaits swearing in by Johnson. However, the speaker has declined to act until the House comes back into session, and says he will not tell lawmakers to come back to the capital until the Senate passes a measure to resolve the federal shutdown.