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A Democratic Party representative has publicly called for the ex-royal Andrew Mountbatten Windsor to testify before the House of Representatives investigative panel that is currently conducting an investigation 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 House oversight committee, comes after a UK trade minister, Chris Bryant, suggested that since the former prince has been stripped of his royal titles, he should respond to requests for details about his connections to Epstein, an accused sex trafficker who took his own life while in federal custody six years ago.

“Just as with any ordinary member of the public, if there were formal requests from overseas 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 oversight committee. The public deserves to know who was abusing women and young girls with Epstein.”

Political Environment and Probe Developments

GOP members hold the majority in the House, but amid public outcry over former President Trump’s management of the Epstein case authorized an investigation by the House committee into how the authorities managed his legal proceedings. Interest in the case surged in July, after the Department of Justice announced that a much-rumored list of Epstein’s sex trafficking clients did not exist, and it would share nothing further on the case.

The House investigation has thus far resulted in the publication of thousands of documents – including a lewd drawing apparently made by Donald Trump for Epstein’s 50th birthday – as well as depositions from former top government officials.

Legislative Actions and Obstacles

As a member of the minority, Khanna lacks the authority to compel the former prince’s appearance. Spokespeople for the Republican committee chairman, James Comer, declined to comment about whether he believes the ex-royal should be questioned.

Khanna and Thomas Massie have introduced a bill to force the release of files related to Epstein, but House Speaker 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 effort with Congressman Massie has been about: transparency and accountability for the victims who have been bravely sharing their stories,” Khanna said.

The petition has been endorsed by all 213 Democratic representatives, as well as four Republicans. The 218th signature is anticipated to come from Representative-elect Grijalva, who was elected in Arizona last month, and awaits swearing in by Johnson. However, the speaker has refused to do so until the House comes back into session, and has stated he won’t instruct representatives to come back to the capital until the Senate passes a measure to resolve the federal shutdown.