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A Democratic congressman has demanded the ex-royal Andrew Windsor to appear before the US House of Representatives committee that is currently conducting an inquiry into the official handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case.

Cross-Party Pressure for Testimony

The statement from Ro Khanna, a Democratic representative from California who is a member of the investigative House oversight committee, comes after a UK trade minister, Chris Bryant, suggested that since Mountbatten Windsor has been stripped of his royal titles, he should answer demands for information about his dealings with 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 formal requests from overseas of this kind, I would anticipate any reasonable individual to comply with that request,” the minister said.

The congressman stated: “Andrew should be summoned to appear before the investigative committee. The public deserves to know who was abusing women and young girls with Epstein.”

Partisan Environment and Probe Developments

Republicans control the majority in the House of Representatives, but following public pressure over former President Trump’s management of the Epstein case approved an inquiry by the House committee into how the authorities managed his prosecutions. Public interest surged in July, after the justice department revealed that a much-rumored list of Epstein’s associates did not exist, 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 an explicit sketch apparently made by Trump for Epstein’s 50th birthday – as well as sworn statements from ex-government leaders.

Legislative Efforts and Challenges

As a minority party member, the representative lacks the authority to subpoena the former prince’s appearance. Representatives for the committee’s Republican chair, Chairman Comer, did not respond to questions about whether he thinks the former prince should be questioned.

The Democrat and Thomas Massie have introduced a bill to mandate the disclosure of files related to Epstein, but House Speaker Johnson, a top ally of the president, has refused to bring it up for a vote. Massie and Khanna have distributed a petition that will force a vote on the bill, if a majority of representatives endorse it.

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

The petition has been endorsed by all 213 Democratic representatives, as well as four GOP members. The final required signature is anticipated to come from Representative-elect Grijalva, who was elected in Arizona last month, and awaits inauguration by Johnson. However, the speaker has declined to act until the House comes back into session, and has stated he won’t instruct representatives to return to Washington until the Senate passes a bill to end the ongoing government shutdown.