TOKYO — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer urged former Prince Andrew to testify before a U.S. congressional committee after newly released Justice Department records appeared to show continued contact with financier Jeffrey Epstein years after Epstein’s 2008 conviction for soliciting sex from a minor. Starmer said anyone with relevant information should be willing to provide it to investigators, calling cooperation essential to putting victims first, Jan. 31, 2026.
The call came a day after the U.S. Department of Justice said it had published millions of additional pages under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, alongside thousands of videos and a large cache of images, as part of what it described as compliance with the law. In its announcement, the department said it leaned toward over-collecting and warned that the production may include materials submitted to investigators that could be fake or contain false claims. The DOJ said the latest release added more than 3 million pages and included more than 2,000 videos and 180,000 images.
Much of the material is being made available through an online portal the department says will continue to be updated as additional documents are identified for release. The Justice Department’s Epstein Library includes court records, DOJ disclosures and other releases, with additional redactions intended to protect victims’ identities.
Why former Prince Andrew is under pressure to answer Congress
A Reuters report said the newly released files include emails indicating the former prince maintained regular contact with Epstein for more than two years after the conviction, with exchanges that discuss potential meetings and introductions. Reuters also reported that the release includes redacted images that appear to show former Prince Andrew crouching over an unidentified woman, with her face blacked out.
U.S. lawmakers have been pressing for former Prince Andrew’s cooperation since last year. In a November request, House Oversight Democrats asked him to sit for a transcribed interview as part of their inquiry into Epstein’s sex trafficking operations. In the letter, committee Democrats said he may possess information relevant to identifying Epstein’s “co-conspirators and enablers” and urged him to assist in the interest of victims.
In Britain, the royal family has sought to distance itself from the scandal. Buckingham Palace said in an October statement that King Charles initiated a formal process to remove the style, titles and honors of former Prince Andrew and served notice for him to surrender the lease on Royal Lodge at Windsor.
The current pressure follows years of public scrutiny that peaked after a 2019 BBC interview in which Andrew faced pointed questions about Epstein and denied wrongdoing. Key excerpts of that interview were later published by The Guardian, underscoring his claim that he cut ties with Epstein and his disputes over allegations.
In 2022, Andrew settled a civil lawsuit brought by Virginia Giuffre without admitting wrongdoing, an agreement that included an undisclosed payment and a pledge to support efforts against sex trafficking, according to a Reuters report at the time. Whether former Prince Andrew will now answer Congress remains unclear; Reuters said he did not respond to a request for comment on the latest revelations.
