Rep. Ro Khanna wants King Charles III to use his address before Congress this week to acknowledge the victims of Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking network, a request the British monarch appears unlikely to grant. Charles and Queen Camilla have already said they will not meet with survivors during the royal couple's first U.S. state visit, The Hill reported Saturday.
Khanna, a California Democrat who co-authored the Epstein Files Transparency Act, made the appeal Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press." He framed the upcoming Tuesday speech as a rare chance for the king to demonstrate that the Crown takes the Epstein scandal seriously, not just in words released through palace spokespeople, but in the most public forum available.
The request lands at a moment when the monarchy's exposure to the Epstein matter is no longer theoretical. Earlier this year, Charles's brother Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly Prince Andrew, was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office. So was Peter Mandelson, the former U.K. Ambassador to the United States, whose name surfaced in documents released under the transparency law Khanna helped write.
Khanna did not mince words about what he wants from the king's speech. He told NBC:
"I am hopeful that King Charles, when he speaks to the Congress, will acknowledge the Epstein survivors, will call for justice, will call for investigations and prosecutions."
He added that such a gesture would carry real weight.
"It would be an enormous gesture if when he's speaking at the Congress, he does that. And I'm hopeful that he will."
Khanna has also pushed for a face-to-face meeting between the king and survivors. AP News reported that the congressman sent Charles a letter asking him to "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." Khanna wrote that "survivors want this meeting."
Charles, for his part, has spoken publicly about the matter only in carefully measured terms. Following his brother's arrest, the king gave a statement to NewsNation:
"I have learned with the deepest concern the news about Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and suspicion of misconduct in public office."
He went on to say that "the full, fair and proper process" must proceed and that his family offered "full and wholehearted support and co-operation" to the authorities. He closed with a line that read more like a legal boundary than a personal pledge: "Let me state clearly: the law must take its course. As this process continues, it would not be right for me to comment further on this matter."
That posture, expressing concern, pledging cooperation, then declining to say more, has drawn criticism from victims' advocates. Brad Edwards, a lawyer who represents Epstein survivors, told Newsmax that the palace's past expressions of sympathy were "performative, effectively window dressing."
The refusal to meet with victims during this trip reinforces that impression. Charles and Camilla's four-day visit will take them to Washington, D.C., New York City, and Virginia. The speech to Congress, the first by a British monarch since Queen Elizabeth II addressed lawmakers in 1991, is expected to touch on America's 250th founding anniversary. But the Epstein question now hangs over every stop.
The broader Epstein scandal has continued to widen. Documents released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act revealed communications between the convicted sex offender and both Mandelson and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. The fallout has not been limited to the royal family. Mandelson was ousted from his ambassadorial post after his name appeared in the files, and his arrest earlier this year added another layer of political trouble for U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who continues to face questions about his relationship with the former diplomat. Starmer has said he will not step aside.
The ongoing release of DOJ files related to Epstein has steadily expanded public understanding of the financier's network and the scope of his crimes.
Fox News reported that Khanna wants Charles to meet not only with victims but also with himself, Rep. Thomas Massie, and the House Oversight Committee. Khanna said the king could offer insight into "what the monarchy knew about Epstein and Prince Andrew." He stopped short of calling for a subpoena.
Not everyone on Capitol Hill shares Khanna's appetite for confrontation. One Oversight Committee source told Fox News the request is "very delicate" and warned they risk "an international incident" by pressing the king to appear before the committee. House Speaker Mike Johnson reportedly dismissed the idea outright.
That tension, between accountability and diplomatic protocol, is the crux of the matter. Charles is a head of state, not a defendant. But his family's entanglement with Epstein is not a matter of speculation. His brother was arrested. His brother's name appeared in the files. The king himself stripped Andrew of royal titles in October, and Breitbart noted that Charles said in a rare personally signed statement that "the law must take its course."
A New York Post report from February detailed that a palace spokesperson said Charles had expressed "profound concern" about allegations related to Andrew's conduct and stood "ready to support" Thames Valley Police if approached. That same report noted police were reviewing at least two new complaints involving Andrew, one alleging Epstein sent a woman to the U.K. to have sex with him at Royal Lodge, another alleging Andrew forwarded confidential trade files to Epstein, raising possible Official Secrets Act violations.
Khanna himself has framed the Epstein matter in international terms. He told Newsmax that Epstein's abuses and connections were "not solely an American matter" but part of a broader international network. That framing matters, because it shifts the question from whether the king should be personally blamed to whether the monarchy, as an institution, has done enough to reckon with what happened under its roof.
The Epstein scandal has touched figures across political and institutional lines. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick's confirmed visit to Epstein's island showed that the financier's web reached deep into American business and government as well.
Charles's Tuesday address will almost certainly avoid the Epstein matter entirely. The palace has signaled as much by declining meetings with survivors and by the king's own statement that it "would not be right" for him to comment further while investigations proceed.
That is a defensible legal position. It is also a political choice. The king will stand before the elected representatives of a nation whose law enforcement agencies helped expose Epstein's crimes, whose lawmakers passed the transparency act that named his brother, and whose citizens include the women Epstein victimized. He will celebrate America's founding principles. He will not mention the people his family failed to protect.
Khanna said he was "disappointed" that Charles will not meet with victims. Whether other members of Congress share that disappointment, or whether they consider the whole exercise too diplomatically fraught to pursue, remains to be seen. The visit is four days long. The questions it raises will last longer.
Powerful institutions love to express "profound concern." The victims of Jeffrey Epstein have heard enough concern. What they haven't heard, from the palace or from too many other quarters, is a straight answer.
