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

Cross-Party Demands for Testimony

The statement from Ro Khanna, a California Democratic representative who serves on the 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 alleged sex trafficker who died by suicide while in government custody six years ago.

“Just as with any ordinary member of the public, if there were requests from another jurisdiction of this kind, I would expect any reasonable individual to comply with that request,” the minister said.

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

Partisan Landscape and Probe Developments

GOP members hold the majority in the House of Representatives, but following public pressure over Donald Trump’s handling of the Epstein matter approved an inquiry by the House committee into how the government handled his prosecutions. Public interest flared in July, after the Department of Justice revealed that a widely speculated list of Epstein’s associates was non-existent, and it would provide no additional information on the case.

The House investigation has thus far resulted in the publication of thousands of documents – including a lewd drawing reportedly drawn by Donald Trump for Epstein’s birthday – as well as sworn statements from ex-government leaders.

Legal Actions and Obstacles

As a minority party member, the representative does not have the power to subpoena Mountbatten Windsor’s testimony. Spokespeople for the Republican committee chairman, Chairman Comer, declined to comment about whether he thinks the ex-royal should be interviewed.

The Democrat and Thomas Massie have proposed legislation to force the release of Epstein-related documents, 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 force a vote on the bill, if a majority of representatives endorse it.

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

The petition has been endorsed by all 213 Democratic representatives, as well as four Republicans. The final required signature is expected to be Representative-elect Grijalva, who was elected in Arizona last month, and awaits swearing in 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 approves a bill to end the ongoing government shutdown.