JD Vance has ratcheted pressure on Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor to testify before US lawmakers over his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein.
The Vice President said in a wide-ranging exclusive interview with the Daily Mail on Tuesday that he would support bipartisan efforts to summon the ex-prince to give evidence to Congress, noting recent calls by the British prime minister.
‘I saw Keir Starmer said something about this,’ Vance said. ‘I’m certainly open to it.’
The VP added the decision would ultimately be made by congressional Republicans who were best placed to judge what Andrew could offer to the ongoing bipartisan investigation into Epstein and how the US government handled his case.
‘I’ll let them determine whether they should talk to Prince Andrew. I’d certainly be open to it. But it’s their call, not mine,’ he added.
It comes as Andrew was told to leave his Royal Lodge on the grounds of Windsor Castle on Tuesday night as his brother King Charles has become increasingly concerned by the allegations.
The Vice President said the files released by the Justice Department on Friday showed ‘there’s a pretty incestuous nature to America’s elites.’
They include photos that show Andrew crouched over a woman and touching her waist. The documents also included emails that Andrew in frequent contact with Epstein for more than two years after the financier was convicted of child sex crimes.
Vance claimed that the files exonerated Donald Trump, who was friends with Epstein from the 1990s up until the mid-2000s, when the President said he fell out with him over ‘creepy’ behavior toward young women at his Mar-a-Lago club.
JD Vance says he would support bipartisan efforts to summon Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor to give evidence to Congress in an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail on Tuesday
The files released by the Justice Department last week included images that showed Andrew crouched over a woman and touching her waist
‘President Trump is very much outside of the social circle,’ Vance insisted.
‘He knows a lot of these people. He certainly has similar wealth and power. But he never really was friendly with Epstein in a way that a lot of these other people were.
‘I think that it just shows there’s an incestuous nature to America’s elites, and it’s pretty gross. And, a lot of people, I think, it reflects very poorly on them. Bill Gates, Bill Clinton, a lot of others.’
Starmer on Saturday said that Andrew should appear before US lawmakers to explain everything he knows about Epstein in order to help his victims.
‘Anybody who has got information should be prepared to share that information in whatever form they are asked to do that,’ the prime minister told reporters.
‘You can’t be victim-centered if you’re not prepared to do that.’
Andrew, who was seen driving and riding around Windsor on Monday, has not commented on the latest files, but has previously strongly denied any wrongdoing.
The House is unable to subpoena Andrew as he is a foreign national.
Charles stripped his brother of his dukedom and princely titles in October after fresh scrutiny over his relationship with Epstein in the wake of the posthumous publication of Virginia Giuffre’s memoir. She took her own life last April.
Giuffre alleged that Andrew had sex with her on three occasions when she was 17 years old, including at Ghislaine Maxwell’s London townhouse, as well as in New York and on Epstein’s private island.
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Jeffrey Epstein in New York’s Central Park in December 2010
Vance speaks to the Daily Mail at the Eisenhower Executive Building on Tuesday
Virginia Giuffre photographed with Andrew and Ghislaine Maxwell in London in 2001
Donald Trump and his then-girlfriend Melania Knauss, Jeffrey Epstein, and Ghislaine Maxwell at the Mar-a-Lago club, Palm Beach, Florida, February 12, 2000
Andrew, who vehemently denied her allegations, reached a £12 million out-of-court settlement with Giuffre in 2022 to end her civil sexual assault lawsuit against him.
UK police on Tuesday announced they would assess an allegation that Epstein trafficked a second woman to the UK to have sex with Andrew.
The former prince ignored an invitation to sit for a deposition before the US House Oversight Committee following a previous dump of the Epstein files in November.
The letter cited financial records from Epstein’s estate mentioning ‘massages for Andrew’ and a 2011 email where the ex-prince told the pedophile, ‘We are in this together.’
The latest files show Andrew maintained regular contact with Epstein after his 2008 conviction for soliciting prostitution from a minor, including discussing potential business deals and social meetings.
In one email, a mysterious Russian woman set up on a dinner date with Andrew by Epstein thanked the pedophile for ‘a really special adventure’. Epstein emailed Andrew to say a woman could meet him in London in August 2010.
‘She 26, russian, clevere [sic] beautiful, trustworthy and yes she has your email,’ he wrote.
It is not clear whether the woman and Andrew actually met.
Andrew’s ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, also features in the files, including offering to set Epstein up with a ‘single’ female with ‘a great body’ after his child sex conviction.
Epstein was found hanged in 2019 in a Manhattan jail while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. His death was ruled a suicide.
Andrew has been contacted for comment.
