The United Kingdom’s Labour Party demanded that Prince Andrew turn over any evidence related to the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein by the FBI.
The left-leaning political party urged the Duke of York to work with the FBI in its investigation on Monday, with a party leader, Barry Gardiner, calling it the “the right thing to do” after the royal addressed his connections to the deceased financier and convicted pedophile in a Saturday interview with BBC.
“I hope very much he will [testify],” said Gardiner. “I believe that if this interview was intended to be open and transparent then it should be focused on the victims, it should be focused on justice for those victims of Jeffrey Epstein and anything that Andrew can do in order to further that by saying what he knows of the time he spent with his former friend can only be the right thing to do.”
Another top Labour member, Jack Dromey, told BBC Radio 4 the prince “showed no empathy whatsoever for the victims of Epstein” and “should be utterly ashamed of himself.”
“I thought it was utterly disgraceful, and to be absolutely frank, he is a disgrace,” he said.
Andrew, 59, was associated with Epstein while the financier was allegedly running a sex trafficking ring in the United States. Epstein pleaded guilty to a felony prostitution charge in 2008 in connection to his abuse of young girls. He was found dead in his jail cell earlier this year of an apparent suicide while awaiting trial for related federal charges, according to the New York City medical examiner.
Andrew was named by Epstein accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre as one of her rapists. She alleged that she was forced by Epstein to have sex with the royal three times after first meeting him when she was 17 in 2001. The two were photographed together, but Andrew has denied any wrongdoing and claimed he has no recollection of meeting Giuffre.
Prince Andrew says of Virginia Giuffre: “I have no recollection of ever meeting this lady, none whatsoever.”https://t.co/j8LAc6zls8 pic.twitter.com/UeqE7Z681e
— erica orden (@eorden) November 16, 2019
He told BBC he would testify under oath against Epstein if his attorneys approved, but that has yet to happen.
“I’m like everybody else, and I would have to take all the legal advice that there was before I was to do that sort of thing,” he said. “But if push came to shove and the legal advice was to do so, then I would be duty-bound to do so.”
While Labour demanded that Andrew speak, Conservatives have declined to comment on the situation, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson saying, “I won’t get dragged into commentary regarding members of the royal family, if you don’t mind.”
