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

Cross-Party Demands for Evidence

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 answer demands for information about his dealings with Jeffrey Epstein, an accused sex trafficker who died by suicide 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 anticipate any reasonable individual to comply with that request,” the minister 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.”

Partisan Landscape and Investigation Developments

GOP members control 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 prosecutions. Public interest surged in July, after the Department of Justice revealed that a much-rumored list of Epstein’s sex trafficking clients did not exist, and it would provide no additional information on the case.

The House investigation has thus far resulted in the release of tens of thousands of pages – including an explicit sketch apparently made by Donald Trump for Epstein’s birthday – as well as sworn statements from ex-government leaders.

Legal Efforts and Challenges

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

The Democrat 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 blocked a vote on it. Massie and Khanna 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 Congressman Massie has been about: transparency and accountability for the victims who have been courageously speaking out,” the lawmaker said.

The appeal has been signed by all 213 House Democrats, as well as four Republicans. The 218th signature is expected to be Representative-elect Grijalva, who was elected in the state of Arizona last month, and awaits swearing in by Johnson. However, the House leader 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.