We want to talk to Andrew, says US’s top lawyer
PRESSURE was mounting on Prince Andrew last night after America’s top legal official said prosecutors were waiting to speak to him over the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.
US Attorney General William Barr said his department ‘definitely’ wanted to talk to the Queen’s second son and claimed they had been trying to contact him.
Lawyers for the Duke of York insist they have written to US authorities to offer to cooperate but have had no response. The duke is said to be ‘bewildered’ by the standoff.
A sombre-looking Andrew, 60, was photographed as he drove out of the gates of Windsor Castle yesterday, the first photo of him since the arrest of his former friend Ghislaine Maxwell in the US last week.
He has kept a low profile since British socialite Maxwell, 58, was charged with grooming and trafficking underage girls who were then sexually abused by Epstein. She has denied the allegations.
Mr Barr, a senior member of the Trump administration, said prosecutors ‘definitely’ wanted to speak to Andrew about the Epstein investigation. He told ABC News: ‘That’s why the Southern District has been making efforts to communicate with him. We’ve made it clear that we’d like to communicate with him.’
The duke visited Epstein’s private island in the Caribbean and stayed at his homes in New York and Florida, but has categorically denied that he ever saw or suspected anything untoward.
He has also strenuously rejected claims by Virginia Roberts, who alleges she was forced to have sex with Andrew on three occasions after meeting him through Epstein. Mr Barr said measures were in place to ensure Maxwell would not be allowed to die in jail like her former boyfriend Epstein. He insisted security was tight around the socialite to ensure she would not be able to kill herself, or be harmed by others.
Epstein, 66, took his life in his cell last year while awaiting trial on child sex trafficking charges.
Maxwell, the daughter of late newspaper tycoon Robert, is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn, New York, and is due to appear in court via videolink on Tuesday.