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A Democratic Party representative has demanded the ex-royal Andrew 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 Demands for Testimony

The statement from Ro Khanna, a California Democratic representative who is a member of the investigative 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 formal requests from overseas of this kind, I would anticipate any decently minded person to honor that request,” the minister said.

Khanna 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 Environment and Investigation Developments

Republicans 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 authorities managed his legal proceedings. Public interest surged in July, after the justice department announced that a widely speculated list of Epstein’s associates was non-existent, and it would share nothing further on the case.

The congressional probe has so far led to the publication of tens of thousands of pages – including a lewd drawing apparently made by Donald Trump for Epstein’s 50th birthday – as well as sworn statements from ex-government leaders.

Legislative Efforts and Obstacles

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

The Democrat and Republican Congressman Massie have introduced a bill to mandate the disclosure 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 require the bill be voted on, if 218 members of the House sign it.

“This is what my effort with Congressman Massie has been about: openness and justice for the victims 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 expected to be Representative-elect Grijalva, who was elected in the state of Arizona last month, and awaits inauguration by the Speaker. However, the speaker has declined to act until the House comes back into session, and says he will not tell representatives to come back to the capital until the Senate passes a bill to end the ongoing government shutdown.