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| Daily Mail, Wednesday, January 29, 2020 | Daily Mail, Wednesday, January 29, 2020 |
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I will talk to FBI, Andrew tells pals¶
By Rebecca English and Sam Greenhill¶
AN ‘ANGRY and bewildered’ Prince Andrew has rubbished claims he snubbed the FBI’s Jeffrey Epstein inquiry, friends insisted last night.¶
A US prosecutor accused the Duke of York of ‘zero co-operation’ with their investigation, but a source close to Andrew claimed: ‘Nothing could be further from the truth.’¶
The defiant prince was in fact ‘more than happy to talk’ but ‘hasn’t been approached by them yet’, the source insisted.¶
Andrew’s extraordinary fightback came 24 hours after the royals were rocked by the bombshell declaration from New York state attorney Geoffrey Berman.¶
He stood outside Epstein’s New York mansion and accused the Queen’s son of failing to respond to requests by the FBI and US prosecutors for an interview over his friendship with the paedophile financier.¶
The resulting firestorm sent Buckingham Palace into a panic and yesterday the¶
’Certain people are jumping the gun’¶
Queen’s aides were still refusing to issue any comment on the story. Courtiers even said they would never talk about the subject and insisted it was a matter for the prince’s lawyers, who they refused to identify.¶
But the source close to the prince stepped forward to flatly contradict the US prosecutor’s claims that the royal had reneged on his promise two months ago to ‘help any appropriate law enforcement agency with their investigations’ into Epstein, who killed himself last year.¶
Last night the insider claimed that Andrew was ‘committed to the legal process’, saying: ‘The duke is more than happy to talk to the FBI but he hasn’t been approached by them vet.‘¶
Duke insists he hasn’t been approached for interview… but says he’s more than happy to talk¶
After Mr Berman’s shock intervention on Monday, lawyers and women who say they were sex trafficking victims of Epstein vented their fury at Andrew.¶
'He is angry about the way this is being portrayed and bewildered as to why this was said in New York. It seems certain people are jumping the gun.'¶
A lawyer for Virginia Roberts, who claims she was instructed to have sex with Andrew on three occasions from the age of 17 — something he strenuously denies — said he should ‘take most seriously the deeply-held belief in this country that no one is above the law’.¶
FBI: WHY WON’T ANDREW SPEAK TO US?¶
Yesterday’s Daily Mail¶
Lisa Bloom, who represents five other women, said it was ‘time to stop playing games’ and ‘answer questions’, while a third lawyer threatened Andrew, 59, with a subpoena if he sets foot in America again. The prince has categorically denied having any knowledge that Epstein was sexually abusing teenage girls. The scandal reignited last November when Andrew gave a disastrous interview to BBC Newsnight’s Emily Maitlis in which he failed to express any regret for continuing his friendship with the disgraced financier after he was jailed for child sex abuse.¶
Steering through crisis: Prince Andrew in Windsor yesterday¶
The prince told Miss Maitlis he would give investigators a statement under oath ‘in the right circumstances’. After a public furore in which he was forced to withdraw from royal duties, he issued a statement saying he would ‘on course’ speak to investigators ‘if required’. Last night the source close to Andrew insisted: ‘The¶
He hasn't changed his views at all and sticks by what he said in his interview with Emily Maitlis that he would co-operate.¶
duke is not under any obligation to talk to lawyers representing alleged victims of Epstein at the moment, but he is totally willing to talk to any law enforcement agencies, be they the police or FBI.¶
Indeed a week hasn’t gone by since then when he hasn’t had extensive meetings with his lawyers at Royal Lodge [his Windsor home] and Buckingham Palace preparing for such a meeting.¶
Epstein after he was convicted and for not showing sufficient empathy for the girls involved. He is desperate to make up for it and is committed to the legal process.’¶
The duke accepts he made a big mistake by continuing to see¶
The source also suggested that Andrew wanted to ‘clear things up so that he can continue to support the Queen in the coming months following Prince’s Philip’s hospitalisation and Harry and Meghan’s decision to quit as frontline royals’. They said: ‘The duke has always been the Queen’s favourite and she is relying on him a lot behind the scenes.’¶
The source added that Andrew anticipated being interviewed by the FBI in the UK, not the US.¶
The Mail revealed last year that the prince was fearful of travelling to America in case he was dragged into ongoing legal proceedings.¶
It was reported that Andrew would not go back to the US until proceedings were ‘satisfactorily’ and unequivocally concluded.¶
The claims that the duke had snubbed the FBI led to global media coverage yesterday and prompted furious responses from Epstein’s alleged victims.¶
Miss Bloom said: ‘It is time for anyone with information to come¶
forward and answer questions.¶
Prince Andrew himself is accused of sexual misconduct and he also spent a great deal of time with Jeffrey Epstein. The five women I represent are outraged and disappointed at Prince Andrew’s behaviour. There are dozens of women who allege they were the victims of sexual assault by this predator Jeffrey Epstein.¶
‘The victims want justice here and we can’t do it without people speaking to law enforcement.’¶
She told Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘If he has done nothing wrong…then why won’t he talk to law enforcement? No response is the same as zero co-operation. This is ridiculous. It’s just not acceptable.’ Harbottle & Lewis, the Queen’s lawyers, who have previously acted for Andrew over allegations in relation to the case, said they are not representing him.¶
Sebastian Shakespeare – Page 34¶
Gloria Allred, another lawyer for five of Epstein’s accusers, threatened the duke with a subpoena if he ever visited the US again.¶
America ‘should swap death crash driver for prince’¶
Wanted: Anne Sacoolas¶
THE American wanted in Britain over a fatal crash should be extradited to secure Prince Andrew’s co-operation with the FBI, a lawyer representing Epstein’s victims said yesterday.¶
Anne Sacoolas, 42, has reportedly admitted being on the wrong side of the road when she hit 19-year-old Harry Dunn’s motorbike outside RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire in August. She fled the UK citing diplomatic immunity due to her husband Jonathan’s role as an intelligence officer at the base.¶
By Claire Duffin and Andy Dolar¶
Lisa Bloom, a lawyer for five of Epstein’s victims, said of securing Prince Andrew’s co-operation: ‘I think a swap would be a fair and just resolution.’ She wrote on Twitter: ‘I understand diplomatic immunity¶
Radd Seiger, a close friend and neighbour of Harry’s mother Charlotte Charles, added yesterday: ‘Harry’s parents are very clear that whether you are Bugs Bunny or Prince Andrew, if you have done something wrong or can help investigators then you should stand up and agree to meet them. Nobody is¶
but this is not a good look. If we want co-operation, we must co-operate in their [UK] investigations too.’¶
accusing Prince Andrew of anything, just as Anne Sacoolas is innocent until proven guilty, but the same applies to her – she needs to come back to the UK to meet British police and prosecutors. It’s effectively a quid pro quo… it is a case of “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours”.¶
“[She] should return to the UK and face one of the fairest justice systems in the world.¶
In the spirit of reciprocity that¶
underpins extradition, we stand shoulder to shoulder with Epstein’s victims and believe that Prince Andrew should go to the US and do everything he can to ensure that justice is served there.¶
The developments came as Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab prepared to raise his disappointment over the Sacoolas case with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during his visit to the UK. Last week Harry’s family were told Mr Pompec had turned down an extradition request, a month after the Crown Prosecution Service announced that Sacoolas would be charged with causing the teenager’s death by dangerous driving.¶
A YouGov survey published yesterday found that 64 per cent of Americans support Sacoolas’s extradition to the UK, with just 9 per cent opposed.¶
So much for the honour he loved to boast about¶
SIR Tom Stoppard’s new play opened in London at the weekend, his first for five years. Leopoldstadt is an epic work, the¶
story of a Jewish family who prospered in Vienna at the dawn of the 20th century.¶
As history and the dread-filled audience know, their good fortune is not going to last. Stoppard’s drama traces their fate over the next 55 years, through war, revolution, impoverishment and the Holocaust.¶
The powerful themes explored will be much discussed elsewhere, but there is one tiny moment towards the end of the play that concerns us here.¶
One character is extolling the virtues of life in England, including cricket, picnics on beaches, the Houses of Parliament. ‘And the Royal Family,’ he adds.¶
On Saturday night, the audience roared with laughter at the very idea that the modern Windsors could be held up as an upstanding exemplar of all that was good and admirable about this country.¶
On Monday night, when I saw the play again, the reaction was more of a deep, scornful snigger that rippled from the stalls to the circle and back again.¶
However both responses had one thing in common – open derision.¶
Of course, two London audiences do not a consensus make and the Royal Family are not quite a national laughing stock – yet. But if the current ruinous narrative continues, surely that day cannot be far off?¶
Killed: Harry Dunn¶
The travails of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are damaging enough, as the idealistic dim bulbs bravely shake off the suffocating bonds of royalty so that they can make a bomb from their royal connections without any pesky interference from Buckingham Palace – and escape media attention by taking refuge on the Ellen DeGeneres Show.¶
problem, the biggest poopsie in the royal punch bowl, is undoubtedly the Queen’s second son and first-rate calamity magnet. We need to talk about Andrew.¶
What playwright would ever dare dream up a character like Prince Andrew, the ongoing Windsor open sore, the red raw callus on the palace? This week’s ongoing drama stars the American prosecutors who are making investigations into the conduct of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his circle, primarily to see if young women were trafficked for sexual purposes.¶
ESSER royals flogging milk to China and teacups to saucer-eyed gullibles further dilute theermine allure. However the real¶
The US lawyers are claiming that despite his assurances last year that he is ‘willing to help any appropriate law enforcement agency’, the Duke of York has provided ‘zero co-operation’ with their ongoing inquiries. In other words, he gave his word but hasn’t acted on it.¶
COMMENTARY¶
As this tawdry scandal moves into its second act, Prince Andrew still denies¶
By Jan Moir¶
who claims that as a 17-year-old girl who worked for Epstein, she was forced to have sex with Andrew on three occasions in 2001 and 2002.¶
T terrible for her, mortifying for the royals and utterly exhausting for the Queen. Just as HM must have thought she had put the worst of the last few months behind her, here comes more trouble in the form of a posse of gunslinger US lawmen galloping over the hill, twirling their pistols and demanding a showdown.¶
DO you know what Prince Andrew’s problem is? According to his own lights, he has ‘a tendency to be too honourable’. That is what he told Emily Maitlis in his disastrous Newsnight interview back in November, when he tried to explain his continued friendship with Epstein after the latter had been jailed for sex offences.¶
Listen everyone. Listen to his excuses.¶
Andrew wasn’t stupid or doltish or foolish, oh dear me no. He wasn’t a walking patsy who blundered into the dark lives of bad men, unseeing and uninterested in anything except his own gratification.¶
He wasn’t a useful idiot whose very presence gave a sheen of royal respectability to sordid events. He was merely being honourable to a friend, don’t you get that?¶
One wonders if the Queen gets it, too – or if her iron resolve is finally weakening when it comes to protecting her bumbling son.¶
For since the FBI have started their investigations, Prince Andrew has apparently been missing in action – and that is most definitely not what one would expect from a man of honour.¶
Perhaps there is a reasonable explanation for his dereliction of duty. Perhaps he has an appointment or two at the Woking branch of Pizza Express, with extra sauce on his every order.¶
Perhaps he is busy on a course of sweat gland therapy, to encourage those recalcitrant war-torn ducts back into full working order.¶
Yet even Prince Andrew cannot hide from his destiny forever – and surely a man of honour like him would not even want to? After all, an honourable person would resist injustice.¶
An honourable man would make himself available. Most of all, an honourable man would not mind the adverse consequences he might personally face in his efforts to discover the truth and expose any wrongdoing that might have befallen others.¶
And if Prince Andrew doesn’t want the laughter from the stalls to engulf his whole family, he should embrace that honour soon. Before it is too late for all of them.¶
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