Britain’s King Charles III has been asked by Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna to meet survivors of the crimes of the Jeffrey Epstein during a state visit to the United States in late April. File Photo by Tolga Akmen/EPA-EFE
March 31 (UPI) — Democratic lawmaker Ro Khanna, D-Calif., the author of the law that forced the government to release the Epstein files, wrote King Charles III requesting he meet with survivors of the late convicted sex offender during his upcoming state visit in April.
In his letter Monday, Khanna told the king he wanted him to meet with the women because of Epstein’s “significant” links to Britain via his accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, and his connections with high-profile political and establishment figures.
He stressed that survivors also “want this meeting.”
“I respectfully ask that you privately meet with survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s and Ghislaine Maxwell’s abuse, so they may speak to you directly about the ways powerful individuals and institutions failed them.
“I make this request in light of recent developments in the United Kingdom, including renewed scrutiny of individuals and institutions with ties to Epstein and his network. These developments have raised serious questions about conduct, access, and whether positions of public trust were misused or whether public institutions helped shield wrongdoing,” wrote Khanna.
“Your call for a ‘full, fair and proper’ investigation, and for the law to take its course, recognizes the seriousness of these concerns,” he added, referring to the king’s response to the arrest in February of his brother, the former Prince Andrew, on suspicion of passing confidential information to Epstein when he was Britain’s trade envoy.
Former U.K. Ambassador to the United States, Peter Mandelson, is also under investigation on suspicion of misconduct in public office over allegations he passed confidential government information to Epstein when he was business secretary in 2009.
Following their arrests on Feb. 19 and Feb. 24, both men were released “under investigation” by British police. Neither has been charged.
Mandelson was fired from his ambassadorship in September for allegedly concealing the extent, depth and duration of his friendship with Epstein from Prime Minister Keir Starmer when he was considering him for the role.
Buckingham Palace has previously stressed that the king’s “sympathies have been, and remain with, the victims of any and all forms of abuse.”
Buckingham Palace did not immediately comment on Khanna’s letter.
However, Khanna’s suggestion the meeting might yield “additional information that British institutions and individuals may be able to share and open a dialogue about whether there will be a full accounting of how Epstein’s and Maxwell’s network operated” in Britain as well as ensuring the matter was addressed with “transparency, seriousness, and accountability,” could prove very tricky for the king.
The king is head of state but his role is mostly ceremonial. He acts on the advice of government ministers, not the other way around, while the constitution places him above politics, if not the law.
The monarch’s legal and political powers are constitutionally limited to approving bills before they become law, dissolving parliament prior to elections and inviting the winning party to form a government — all rubber-stamp conventions over which they have no say.
He or she is not even allowed to publicly express their political views.
As such, the king is not in a position to grant any assurances or make anything happen regarding Britain’s handling of the Epstein scandal.
The visit by Charles and Queen Camilla, in reciprocation of President Donald Trump’s unprecedented second state visit to Britain in September, has yet to be confirmed by Buckingham Palace and the White House, but U.S. Ambassador to Britain Warren Stephens said last week that he was confident it would go ahead.
The trip in the last week in April will see the royal couple welcomed to the White House complete with a Guard of Honor and a state banquet.
Charles was also expected to address both houses of congress. The last time that happened was in 1991 when Charles’ mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II was in Washington as a guest of the late President George H W Bush.
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