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

Bipartisan Demands for Testimony

The statement from Congressman Khanna, a Democratic representative from California who is a member of the House oversight committee, comes after a UK trade minister, Chris Bryant, suggested that since Mountbatten Windsor has been stripped of his royal status, he should answer demands for information about his connections to Epstein, an accused sex trafficker who died by suicide while in government custody six years ago.

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

The congressman stated: “Andrew should be summoned to appear before the investigative committee. The people have a right to know who was abusing women and young girls alongside Epstein.”

Partisan Landscape and Investigation Progress

Republicans hold the majority in the House, but following public pressure over former President Trump’s management of the Epstein matter authorized an investigation by the oversight committee into how the government handled his prosecutions. Interest in the case flared in July, after the Department of Justice revealed that a much-rumored list of Epstein’s sex trafficking clients was non-existent, and it would share nothing further on the case.

The House investigation has thus far resulted in the publication of thousands of documents – including an explicit sketch apparently made by Trump for Epstein’s birthday – as well as sworn statements from ex-government leaders.

Legislative Actions and Obstacles

As a minority party member, the representative does not have the power to compel Mountbatten Windsor’s testimony. Representatives for the Republican committee chairman, James Comer, declined to comment about whether he believes the former prince should be questioned.

Khanna and Thomas Massie have introduced a bill to mandate the disclosure of files related to Epstein, but Mike Johnson, a top ally of the president, has blocked a vote on it. The two congressmen have distributed a petition that will force a vote on the bill, if 218 members of the House endorse it.

“This is what my campaign with Congressman Massie has been about: transparency and accountability for the victims who have been courageously speaking out,” Khanna said.

The appeal has been signed by all 213 House Democrats, as well as four Republicans. The 218th signature is expected to be Representative-elect Grijalva, who won a special election in Arizona last month, and awaits inauguration by Johnson. However, the speaker has refused to do so until the House comes back into session, and says he will not tell representatives to come back to the capital until the Senate passes a bill to end the ongoing government shutdown.