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A Democratic Party congressman has publicly called for the ex-royal Andrew Mountbatten Windsor to appear before the US House of Representatives investigative panel that is currently conducting an investigation into the government’s handling of the Epstein case.

Cross-Party Demands for Testimony

The statement from Congressman Khanna, a Democratic representative from California who is a member of the investigative House oversight committee, comes after a British trade official, Chris Bryant, suggested that since the former prince has been stripped of his royal status, he should respond to requests for details about his dealings with 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 formal requests from overseas of this kind, I would expect any decently minded person to comply with that request,” the minister said.

Khanna stated: “Andrew should be called to testify before the investigative committee. The public deserves to know who was exploiting women and minors alongside Epstein.”

Partisan Environment and Investigation Progress

GOP members control the majority in the House, but following public pressure over former President Trump’s management of the Epstein case approved an inquiry by the oversight committee into how the authorities managed his legal proceedings. Public interest flared in July, after the justice department revealed that a much-rumored list of Epstein’s sex trafficking clients was non-existent, and it would provide no additional information on the case.

The House investigation has so far led to the release of tens of thousands of pages – including an explicit sketch apparently made by Donald Trump for Epstein’s birthday – as well as depositions from ex-government leaders.

Legal Efforts and Challenges

As a minority party member, the representative does not have the power to subpoena the former prince’s appearance. Spokespeople for the committee’s Republican chair, James Comer, did not respond to questions about whether he thinks the former prince should be questioned.

Khanna and Thomas Massie have proposed legislation to force the release of files related to Epstein, but House Speaker Johnson, a key presidential supporter, has blocked a vote on it. The two congressmen have distributed a petition that will force a vote on the bill, if a majority of representatives sign it.

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

The petition has been endorsed by all 213 House Democrats, as well as four GOP members. The 218th signature is expected to be Representative-elect Grijalva, who won a special election in Arizona last month, and awaits swearing in by Johnson. However, the speaker has refused to do so until the House comes back into session, and has stated he won’t instruct representatives to come back to the capital until the Senate passes a measure to end the ongoing government shutdown.