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A Democratic Party congressman has publicly called for the former prince Andrew Mountbatten Windsor to testify before the House of Representatives committee that is carrying out an inquiry into the official handling of the Epstein case.

Cross-Party Pressure for Evidence

The statement from Ro Khanna, a Democratic representative from California who serves on 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 Jeffrey Epstein, an alleged 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 anticipate any reasonable individual to comply with that request,” the minister said.

Khanna commented: “Andrew should be called to testify before the investigative committee. The people have a right to know who was abusing women and young girls alongside Epstein.”

Political Environment and Probe Progress

GOP members control the majority in the House of Representatives, but amid public outcry over Donald Trump’s handling of the Epstein matter authorized an investigation by the House committee into how the authorities managed his prosecutions. Interest in the case flared in July, after the Department of Justice revealed that a widely speculated list of Epstein’s sex trafficking clients was non-existent, and it would share nothing further on the case.

The congressional probe has so far led to the release of tens of thousands of pages – including a lewd drawing apparently made by Trump for Epstein’s 50th birthday – as well as depositions from former top government officials.

Legal Actions and Challenges

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

Khanna and Republican Congressman Massie have proposed legislation to force the release 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 require the bill be voted on, if a majority of representatives endorse it.

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

The petition has been endorsed by all 213 House Democrats, as well as four GOP members. The final required signature is expected to be Adelita Grijalva, who was elected in Arizona last month, and awaits inauguration by the Speaker. However, the speaker has refused to do so until the House comes back into session, and has stated he won’t instruct representatives to return to Washington until the Senate approves a measure to end the ongoing government shutdown.