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A Democratic Party congressman has demanded the ex-royal Andrew Mountbatten Windsor to testify before the US House of Representatives committee that is carrying out an investigation into the government’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case.

Bipartisan Demands for Evidence

The statement from Ro Khanna, a California Democratic representative who is a member of the investigative House oversight committee, comes after a British trade official, Chris Bryant, indicated that since the former prince has been stripped of his royal titles, he should respond to requests for details about his dealings with Epstein, an accused sex trafficker who took his own life 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 comply with that request,” the minister said.

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

Partisan Landscape and Probe Progress

Republicans control the majority in the House of Representatives, but amid public outcry over former President Trump’s management of the Epstein matter authorized an investigation by the House committee into how the government handled his prosecutions. Public interest 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 provide no additional information on the case.

The congressional probe has so far led to the publication of tens of thousands of pages – including a lewd drawing apparently made by Trump for Epstein’s birthday – as well as sworn statements from former top government officials.

Legislative Efforts and Obstacles

As a minority party member, the representative does not have the power to compel Mountbatten Windsor’s testimony. Spokespeople for the committee’s Republican chair, James Comer, did not respond to questions about whether he believes the former prince should be interviewed.

The Democrat and Republican Congressman Massie have introduced a bill to force the release of files related to Epstein, but Mike Johnson, a top ally of the president, 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 Congressman Massie has been about: openness and justice for the victims who have been bravely sharing their stories,” the lawmaker said.

The appeal has been signed by all 213 Democratic representatives, 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 swearing in by Johnson. However, the House leader has refused to do so until the House comes back into session, and says he will not tell lawmakers to return to Washington until the Senate approves a bill to resolve the federal shutdown.