It’s not that King Charles III’s visit to the nation’s capital on the 250th anniversary of America’s independence isn’t important. It’s just that to Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., justice for the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse and sex trafficking should matter just as much.
“He is here for the 250th anniversary,” Khanna told MS NOW on Tuesday before a roundtable with Epstein survivors and victim advocates on Capitol Hill. “But I think the question is: Why is he not taking this opportunity to recognize the survivors, to make sure that people understand that no one is above the law?”
Khanna continued that “you don’t have to be born a king to have your rights protected,” adding that just because you’re the king’s brother — like Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew — that doesn’t “give you the right to treat women and young girls and Americans as dispensable.”
Mountbatten-Windsor is accused of sexually abusing Virginia Giuffre when she was 17, after she was trafficked by Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Those allegations, and Mountbatten-Windsor’s repeated appearance in the Epstein files, led Charles to formally strip his brother of his title and royal honors in late 2025. Mountbatten-Windsor was subsequently arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office in February.
At the time, Charles took the rare step of releasing a public statement — with his own name on the quote — saying he supports the investigation and that “the law must take its course.”
But Charles and President Donald Trump, who also appears in the unredacted Epstein files “over a million times,” according to Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., have sought to put the Epstein files behind them as they celebrate the United States’ 250th anniversary of independence.
“You would expect this to be a moment for the king to give a message to the world that he stands with survivors,” Sky Roberts, Giuffre’s brother, said at the roundtable on Tuesday, just hours before Charles addresses a joint session of Congress.
Khanna’s effort to shift the focus of the king’s visit to Epstein comes a year into his bipartisan blitz to release the Epstein files.
Seeking to keep the Epstein issue top of mind, Khanna sent a letter to the king ahead of his Washington visit asking for a private audience on behalf of the Epstein survivors.
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The king declined — a move Khanna called “shortsighted.”
The California Democrat said he wished Charles had accepted the meeting, “but I’m hoping at the very least that in his address today he’ll make it clear that these women were treated unfairly, that they were treated as dispensable, that what happened to them was horrific and that the world owes them.”
Whether or not Charles makes mention of the victims or his brother’s appearances in the Epstein files, Khanna is trying to make sure that in the pomp and circumstance of the joint address, the persistent questions plaguing the royal family about their connections with Epstein aren’t lost.
For instance, the details of a settlement between then-Prince Andrew and Giuffre in 2022 are still unknown. The House Oversight Committee has sought answers to relevant questions — including how much money Andrew settled for — but the royal family has so far stonewalled it.
Giuffre died one year ago by suicide. Her brother and sister-in-law, Skye and Amanda Roberts, celebrated her life two days before coming back to the Capitol to fight for accountability on her behalf.
“There is a difficult irony in all this,” Sky Roberts said during the roundtable. “Virginia was recruited from a property owned by Donald Trump and trafficked to a member of the British royal family. Yet today, survivors are here sitting with members of Congress, still fighting to be heard, still pushing for real accountability, while many of the powerful figures connected to these systems remain just out of reach, unable to acknowledge survivors face to face.”
Ali Vitali is MS NOW's senior congressional correspondent and the host of "Way Too Early." She is the author of "Electable: Why America Hasn’t Put a Woman in the White House … Yet."
Lillie Boudreaux