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A Democratic congressman has publicly called for the former prince Andrew Mountbatten Windsor to appear before the House of Representatives investigative panel that is currently conducting an inquiry into the official handling of the Epstein case.

Cross-Party Pressure for Evidence

The declaration 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, indicated that since Mountbatten Windsor has been stripped of his royal status, he should respond to requests for details about his connections to Jeffrey Epstein, an alleged 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 reasonable individual to comply with that request,” Bryant said.

The congressman commented: “Andrew should be called to testify before the investigative committee. The people have a right to know who was exploiting women and minors alongside Epstein.”

Political Environment and Investigation Progress

GOP members control the majority in the House, but following public pressure over Donald Trump’s handling of the Epstein case approved an inquiry by the House committee into how the authorities managed his legal proceedings. Interest in the case surged in July, after the justice department 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 an explicit sketch apparently made by Donald Trump for Epstein’s birthday – as well as depositions from ex-government leaders.

Legislative Actions and Challenges

As a member of the minority, the representative lacks the authority to compel Mountbatten Windsor’s testimony. Spokespeople for the Republican committee chairman, James Comer, did not respond to questions about whether he thinks the ex-royal should be interviewed.

The Democrat and Thomas Massie have introduced a bill to force the release of Epstein-related documents, 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 sign it.

“This is what my campaign with Representative Massie has been about: transparency and accountability for the survivors who have been courageously speaking out,” Khanna 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 Adelita Grijalva, who was elected in the state of Arizona last month, and awaits swearing in by Johnson. However, the speaker has refused to do so until the House reconvenes, and has stated he won’t instruct representatives to return to Washington until the Senate passes a bill to resolve the federal shutdown.