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A Democratic congressman has publicly called for the former prince Andrew Mountbatten Windsor to testify before the House of Representatives investigative panel that is carrying out an investigation into the government’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case.

Cross-Party Pressure for Testimony

The declaration from Congressman Khanna, a Democratic representative from California who is a member of the investigative House oversight committee, comes after a British trade official, 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 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,” Bryant said.

Khanna stated: “Andrew should be summoned to appear before the oversight committee. The people have a right to know who was abusing women and young girls with Epstein.”

Political Landscape and Probe Progress

Republicans hold the majority in the House, but following public pressure over former President Trump’s management of the Epstein case authorized an investigation by the House committee into how the government handled his legal proceedings. Interest in the case surged in July, after the justice department announced 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 50th birthday – as well as depositions from ex-government leaders.

Legal Efforts and Obstacles

As a minority party member, Khanna does not have the power to subpoena the former prince’s appearance. Spokespeople for the committee’s Republican chair, Chairman Comer, did not respond to questions about whether he thinks the former prince should be interviewed.

Khanna and Republican Congressman Massie have proposed legislation 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 require the bill be voted on, if 218 members of the House endorse it.

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

The petition has been endorsed by all 213 House Democrats, as well as four Republicans. The 218th signature is anticipated to come from Representative-elect Grijalva, who won a special election 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 come back to the capital until the Senate passes a measure to resolve the federal shutdown.