PRINCE Andrew was “at least a witness” for US investigators looking into Jeffrey Epstein, according to a former US Attorney General.
Prosecutors were trying to get Andrew “in the door” for questioning over his relationship with convicted paedophile Epstein, new documents reveal.
APPrince Andrew was “at least a witness” for US investigators looking into Jeffrey Epstein, according to a former US Attorney General[/caption]
AFPFormer US Attorney General Bill Barr said prosecutors were trying to get Andrew ‘in the door’ for questioning over his relationship with Epstein[/caption]
Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein picture on a stroll together through New York’s Central Park in 2010Jae Donnelly
Prince Andrew has always denied any wrongdoing and insists he cut off his friendship with the New York financier once details of his crimes were uncovered.
But the FBI has still been trying to speak to Andrew after Epstein was found dead in his prison cell in 2019.
At the time former US Attorney General Bill Barr was the highest law officer in the country meaning he was aware of the high-profile legal proceedings over Epstein.
Now, Barr’s deposition which he gave back in August to the House Oversight Committee have been released.
It contains around 120 pages of quotes which at one point sees Barr being quizzed over how key the US Government thought speaking to Andrew would be to their investigation.
Barr was asked if he remembered the Duke of York being elevated to a “witness, suspect or a target” in 2020.
He replied: “I don’t know if he was a target and I guess to my knowledge, he was at least a witness.
“But I don’t know if he went beyond that. But that’s somebody who in real-time I understood they were trying to get in the door to question.”
Andrew has not stepped foot in America since the FBI made it known they wanted to speak to him.
When asked if he was ever handed down an urgent report regarding the Duke of York, Barr responded: “I don’t recall, Quite possibly. But I don’t recall.”
He later added: “An urgent report could also be done. It’s a judgement call.
“A US attorney can want to question somebody as sensitive as a member of the royal family, our closest ally.
“And they might file an urgent report saying ‘I want you to know that we’re going to be pursuing this guy as a witness and it’s going to make the papers’.”
Barr was then asked if Andrew was someone who should have been the subject of an urgent report.
He responded: “Yeah.”
Before adding that the alternative was to just name him as a witness.
Barr also referenced strong comments against the Duke made in January 2020 by senior US prosecutor Geoffrey Berman.
In a dramatic press conference outside Epstein’s New York mansion he accused Andrew of “providing zero cooperation to the FBI”.
ReutersEpstein was found dead in his prison cell in 2019[/caption]
Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein at a party at the Mar-a-Lago club, Palm Beach, Florida, February 12, 2000Getty
APSenior US prosecutor Geoffrey Berman standing with victims of childhood sexual abuse speaking in front of Jeffrey Epstein’s Manhattan residence[/caption]
Berman said publicly: “The original charges against Jeffrey Epstein contained a conspiracy charge and we allege there were conspirators involved.
“The Southern District of New York and the FBI have contacted Prince Andrew’s attorneys and requested to interview Prince Andrew, and to date, Prince Andrew has provided zero cooperation.
“He publicly offered, indeed in a press release, to cooperate with law enforcement investigating the crimes committed by Jeffrey Epstein and his co-conspirators.”
Barr said Berman should have run the decision to “attack him in front of the mansion” past him before holding the press conference.
Andrew and Epstein shared a well-documented friendship for some years prior to the New York financier’s arrest on serious sex trafficking charges.
In his notorious Newsnight interview six years ago, Andrew vowed to help the probe into Epstein and his warped madam Ghislaine Maxwell.
But the royal remained silent – and claimed he knew nothing of Epstein’s vile crimes despite their close bond.
Andrew and Epstein’s friendship
EPSTEIN and Prince Andrew became pals after being introduced in the early 2000s.
Virginia Giuffre alleged Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell trafficked her to the Duke of York when she was 17 – a claim Andrew has denied.
The mum-of-three sued Prince Andrew in 2021, claiming she was trafficked and forced to have sex with the Duke on three occasions when she was a teen.
It was the first time she had brought action against him after going public with the allegations in 2011.
She claimed she was trafficked and forced to have sex with the Andrew for the first time at Maxwell’s house in London after a night out at the club Tramp.
Virginia also claimed she was forced to have sex with the Duke on at least two further occasions by Maxwell and Epstein.
She claimed she feared for her life when she was allegedly forced to have sex with Andrew, who is accused of having been aware of her age and status as a “sex-trafficking victim”.
Andrew has denied any wrongdoing and has denied allegations made against him.
It comes as thousands of records related to Epstein have been released to the public in recent weeks.
At the start of September, the US House Oversight Committee posted a staggering 33,295 pages of material handed over by the Justice Department after a subpoena from chairman James Comer.
At the start of September, the committee also released Epstein’s 50th birthday book which contained a ten-page tribute from Mandelson.
The 238-page scrapbook was a grotesque mash-up of alleged tributes, bizarre notes and deeply creepy photos.
A topless Maxwell, weird animal pornography and gushing messages from world figures were all stuffed between the pages.
An entry from an unidentified woman even claimed she had met the Duke of York and “seen the private quarters of Buckingham Palace, sat on the Queen of England’s throne”.
GettyAndrew has not stepped foot in America since the FBI made it known they wanted to speak to him[/caption]
House Oversight CommitteeEpstein and Maxwell pictured frolicking topless in a pool[/caption]
