Congressman Ro Khanna admonished President Donald Trump on Monday for expressing sympathy for the British royal family, after King Charles last week finally stripped his younger brother, Andrew, of his prince title after years of controversy over his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Khanna, D-Calif., shared a clip of Trump on Air Force One Sunday, being asked about the king’s move against his 65-year-old brother. The king’s action also resulted in Andrew, who now goes by the name Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, being evicted from his 30-room mansion on royal property and potentially becoming vulnerable to questioning by the FBI, Congress and Parliament over his association with Epstein and his alleged abuse of Virginia Roberts Giuffre, one of the late financier’s underaged sex trafficking victims.

“I feel very badly,” Trump said in the clip, posted on X. “It’s a terrible thing that’s happened to the family. That’s been a tragic situation. It’s too bad. I feel badly for the family.”

To that, Khanna told Trump: “The tragedy is Andrew losing his title and you feel badly for the royal family? No, Mr. President. The tragedy is the over a thousand victims of sexual abuse.”

In his post, Khanna also wrote: “Pass @RepThomasMassie & my bill to release the Epstein files.”

Khanna and Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, have been leading a bipartisan effort to force the U.S. Justice Department to release all of its files on Epstein. The onetime “international moneyman of mystery” died by suicide in August 2019 while in federal custody. He had been arrested for a second time on allegations that he trafficked scores of underage girls to his wealthy and politically connected friends. He previously served 13 months in a Florida jail after pleading guilty in 2008 to a lesser charge of soliciting a minor for prostitution.

The Epstein files and Andrew’s association with the pedophile have become a thorny issue, both for the royal family and for Trump.

Andrew has vehemently denied ever having sex with Giuffre or knowing about Epstein’s sex trafficking of underage girls, but recent news that his friendship with the pedophile continued for years after he publicly claimed it ended has plunged the monarchy into crisis. So has the publication of “Nobody’s Girl,” Giuffre’s memoir that she wrote before her death by suicide earlier this year. In the book, she recalls having sex with Andrew three times in 2001 when she was a teenager and at the direction of Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s one-time girlfriend. Maxwell was convicted in 2022 of being Epstein’s accomplice in his sex trafficking operation and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Among other things, British politicians and editorial boards have called for increased accountability from the country’s head of state and his family, whose official activities and homes are supported by U.K. taxpayers.

Meanwhile, Trump’s challenges with Epstein come from the fact that he was was once one of Epstein’s most famous friends, along with former President Bill Clinton and Microsoft founder Bill Gates. Trump was quoted in a 2002 New York Magazine profile of Epstein, calling his Palm Beach neighbor a “terrific guy” and a lot of fun. The future president also said about Epstein: “It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”

Moreover, images have circulated of Trump, and of his future wife Melania, hosting Epstein, Andrew and Maxwell at Mar-a-Lago in 2000. During Trump’s first administration, he and the first lady also posed with Andrew in June 2019, during a state visit and as they lay a wreath on the tomb of the Unknown Warrior in Westminster Abbey. That visit took place in the summer before Epstein’s arrest and reported suicide.

Trump also denies knowing about Epstein’s sex trafficking operation and said he cut ties with him in the mid-2000s. But his administration has still faced criticism for reneging on promises by Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI officials to release the Epstein files, according to CNBC. Before Trump traveled to the U.K. in September and met with Charles, several images of him and Epstein were projected on to Windsor Castle.

When it comes to Trump’s expression of sympathy for the British royal family, he has often spoken of his admiration for the late Queen Elizabeth II, her son Charles and his son, Prince William, The Guardian reported. During his state visit, he hailed the so-called special relationship between the United States and Britain and paid tribute to Charles.

Khanna doesn’t appear to share Trump’s sympathy for Andrew’s family. On Friday, he issued a statement saying that the former prince should be called to testify before his House oversight committee, which is conducting an inquiry into the government’s handling of the Epstein case, The Guardian reported.

Khanna told The Guardian: “Andrew should be called to testify before the oversight committee. The public deserves to know who was abusing women and young girls alongside Epstein.”

The House investigation has thus far resulted in the release of tens of thousands of pages of documents as well as depositions from former top government officials, according to The Guardian. The documents include a lewd drawing apparently made by Trump for Epstein’s 50th birthday.

Khanna and Massie have introduced a bill to force the release the so-called Epstein files, but Mike Johnson, the Republican House speaker and a top ally of the president, has refused to bring it up for a vote, The Guardian reported. For that reason, Khanna and Massie have been circulating a petition petition that will require the bill be voted on, if 218 members of the House sign it.

“This is what my effort with Representative Massie has been about: transparency and justice for the survivors who have been courageously speaking out,” Khanna said.

_____

©2025 MediaNews Group, Inc. Visit at mercurynews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.