The deadline for Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor to respond to a US Congressional Committee request for an interview has arrived.
Ahead of the deadline later today, one of the members of the committee, which is looking into the Jeffrey Epstein case, claimed he was ‘hiding’ from the US government.
Suhas Subramanyam, one of the Democrat members of the committee, told LBC this morning: ‘It seems like every time we find more documents, Andrew’s name seems to appear over and over again.
‘It’s clear that he had a close relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. We just want to see the truth. If Andrew has information, we want that as well.
Subramanyam told the Guardian earlier this week that Andrew has ‘been hiding’, adding that he believes the former royal will continue to try and hide from ‘people doing meaningful investigations of this matter’.
The committee’s request is to question Andrew about his ‘long-standing’ friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein for a ‘transcribed interview’.
But so far, the response from Andrew has been crickets.
‘If he is hoping that the story will just go away by ignoring us and being silent, he will be sorely disappointed, as we continue to pursue this over the next year and beyond,’ Subramanyam said.
The committee said one item of interest in regard to the Brit includes financial records mentioning Andrew, which raise ‘serious questions’.
The former prince was stripped of his titles and evicted by his brother, King Charles, amid mounting pressure about his ties with Epstein.
Andrew’s links to the paedophile financier have been a target of public scrutiny for years, despite him vigorously denying the allegations.
Virginia Giuffre, who died by suicide earlier this year, accused Andrew of sexually assaulting her three times after being trafficked by Epstein as a teenager.
What happens if Andrew doesn’t respond before the deadline?
Though Congress has the ability to summon Americans to provide testimony to committees, its powers don’t extend to foreign citizens.
If there were an ongoing criminal investigation to which Andrew is linked in the United States, he could be arrested and interviewed, but that’s not the case now.
It seems unlikely that Andrew would actually sit for an interview with Congress, given the trainwreck 2019 BBC Newsnight interview.
He also neglected to sit for a deposition in New York during the legal battle with Virginia Giuffre, ultimately paying her a large settlement out of court and accepting no liability.
But if the soon-to-be-released Epstein files show more damning evidence against Andrew, he might be forced to do damage control again.
John Burke, who previously served as an assistant district attorney in Massachusetts, told the iPaper: ‘Obviously, if he doesn’t go, people are going to make assumptions about why he’s not willing to go.
‘They’ve already made those assumptions, and he’s already lost in the court of public opinion. He wouldn’t lose anything further by not going, but he risks a lot by going legally.’
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