The Daily Telegraph - Saturday
Harry drugs claim ‘not proof ’, US court told
Lawyer counters assertion of think tank that Duke’s admission should have barred him from entry
PRINCE HARRY’S memoir is not “proof ” he took drugs and could have been embellished to “sell books”, a lawyer for the Biden administration argued yesterday.
It came as a court began hearing a case on whether to compel the US government to release the Duke of Sussex’s visa application stemming from revelations about his illegal drug use.
The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, has for months been challenging the department for homeland security (DHS), arguing the documents should be made public as a result of confessions he made in his bestselling memoir
They contend that the Duke’s past drug use should have disqualified him from entering the US under federal law and that releasing his application is of “immense public interest”.
But John Bardo, a lawyer for the DHS, told the court that “the book isn’t sworn testimony or proof ” that the Duke of Sussex did in fact take drugs.
“Saying something in a book doesn’t necessarily make it true,” he said. Nile Gardiner, director of the Heritage Foundation’s Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom, said the suggestion the Duke had fabricated his drug taking was a “ridiculous argument”.
“This is Prince Harry’s book,” he said following the hearing. “He has never denied anything in his own book... including the extensive widespread drug use.”
There are three possible ways the Duke had entered the US, the court heard. He either lied on his immigration form about taking drugs, applied for a waiver or entered on a diplomatic visa.
During the hearing at the E Barrett Prettyman Courthouse, Mr Bardo said it was “certainly plausible” the Duke entered the US on a “category A” visa, which is reserved for diplomats and foreign government officials visiting the US for official duties.
“He’s still a member of the British Royal family and has the title Duke of Sussex… he’s still a government official in the UK by his birth and title,” he said.
Diplomatic visa holders are only permitted to carry out work for their respective governments while in the country. Mr Dewey said the suggestion that Harry was on such a visa was ‘Saying something in a book doesn’t necessarily make it true’
“absurd” and “preposterous” given the nature of his relationship with the Royal family when he entered the US.
He said such a situation would be “entirely anomalous”.
“Absent the King himself you can’t come here and work,” he said, adding that it would be an “abuse” of the visa.
He told the court it would be a “huge red flag” had a government agent admitted the Duke on a class-A visa “when the whole world knows he’s not a working royal”.
Speaking outside the court after the hearing, Mr Dewey said if the Duke is or had been on a diplomatic visa it raises serious questions for the UK Government.
“I think that would also implicate questions in Parliament to the extent if he had a valid visa and tried to use it... how would the Foreign Secretary and Home Secretary have authorised that?”
Mr Gardiner said it was “highly unlikely” Harry was classified as a diplomat as “he had no official role on behalf of British people, his own relationship with the Royal family, that was at a low point as the judge himself actually referenced in his remarks”.
The Heritage Foundation previously argued the former royal waived his right to privacy when he “sold every aspect of his private life for, in some estimates, over $135 million”, adding that his claims of his right to privacy have been “met with widespread public ridicule”. During yesterday’s court session, Mr Dewey referenced the Duke’s recent interview on breakfast television show earlier this month, during which he said he had considered applying for US citizenship.
In the Duke sparked controversy when admitting to taking cocaine, marijuana and psychedelic mushrooms.
Questions have been raised over whether the Duke lied on his US visa application or if he was shown favourable treatment by officials because of his high-profile status. The foundation has sought “all records within Prince Harry’s ‘He’s still a member of the British Royal family and has the title Duke of Sussex’
Alien Registration file” including “any applications for immigration benefits” and “all records relating to any requests for waiver by Prince Harry”.
In a court filing, the Heritage Foundation argued: “[The case] comes about in the main because HRH [His Royal Highness] voluntarily, and for immense profit, admitted in writing to the elements of any number of controlled substance violations. The Duke of Sussex did so despite the fact that it is widely known that such admissions can have adverse immigration consequences fornon-citizens and despite employing preeminent legal advisers on both sides of the Atlantic.”