A Democrat surge in the midterms could create new problems for Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, including the removal of redactions from the Epstein Files and a fresh push for documents from U.K. police, a former federal prosecutor told Newsweek.
Donald Trump has previously dismissed the scandal related to Jeffrey Epstein's abuse of girls as a Democrat conspiracy to damage him. In July 2025, the president blamed public pressure over the issue on the "Lunatic Left" in a Truth Social post that read: "Their new SCAM is what we will forever call the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax."
Neama Rahmani, president of West Coast Trial Lawyers, told Newsweek that if the Democrats win back the House of Representatives in November it "could potentially have a huge impact" on the investigation into Mountbatten-Windsor, as British police attempt to obtain key evidence from Trump's Department of Justice.
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Why It Matters
Mountbatten-Windsor has been under pressure over his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein since 2011 and the publication of Virginia Giuffre's first interview with the media, given to The Mail on Sunday. In time, she went on to accuse the royal of sexual assault and in 2021 sued at civil court in New York. Mountbatten-Windsor settled for an undisclosed sum while denying liability.
In February, he was arrested by Thames Valley Police in England on suspicion of misconduct in public office over separate allegations. Anti-monarchy campaigners reported him over emails that had just been released in the Epstein Files. He was accused of leaking confidential U.K. government documents to Epstein while a British trade envoy. He has always denied Epstein-related wrongdoing.
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Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and the Midterms
Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Justice released more than 3 million pages of evidence it held following the FBI investigation into Jeffrey Epstein and his associates, including Ghislaine Maxwell, who is currently in jail on sex trafficking charges. However, many documents were redacted and many others withheld. In total, there were 6 million pages, suggesting around half were released.
Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested and interviewed over allegations that stemmed from the files but has not been charged. U.K. police would need access to the original, unredacted documents in order to use them as evidence in a prosecution of the former prince, should one be brought.
Rahmani said a Democrat-dominated Congress could push for more of those unreleased pages to be published or for redactions to be removed as well as creating pressure on U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche to release the original documents to British detectives.
"We don't know what the DOJ withheld," he said. "We don't know what is under those redactions. To the extent that Todd Blanche has the documents that need to be produced, it's really up to Congress to push the department to do so.
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"The easiest and cleanest path is for them to file a lawsuit, demand that the DOJ produce the documents to a judge here in the United States and the judge will either himself or herself or by appointing a special master, usually a retired judge, go through these documents. They will look to see whether redactions have been done on a legally legitimate basis.
"Usually the only legitimate basis should be to protect the identity of a victim of sexual abuse. So, we'll see how aggressive the House is."
This would be possible, Rahmani said, without support from the Senate, meaning a Democrat victory in the House of Representatives could potentially be enough.
"The House could subpoena it and conduct hearings," he said. "The House could do it on its own. This doesn't require a bill becoming a law. It doesn't have to pass both houses and be signed by the president."
Rahmani said in the event that Congress were to sue for greater access to the files, they could even look to obtain the original documents themselves and release them to the British police.
The Likelihood of Congress Intervening
One key question is how much political capital the Democrats would be willing to spend creating pressure over Epstein and how much of it they would direct at Mountbatten-Windsor.
"There are bigger priorities for the Democrats right now," Rahmani said. "Obviously they'll want to roll back some of these Medicaid cuts, some of these Affordable Care Act, Obamacare cuts. That is priority number one. They're going to be investigating certain members of the administration, there'll be hearings on that. I don't know. It's certainly something that can be done, I just don't know if it's top of the list in terms of Democrat priorities."
Democrat pressure helped force the release of the Epstein Files in the first place after the Democrats on the House Oversight Committee began releasing emails from Epstein's estate in Fall 2025. "I know Ro Khanna has been pushing this very aggressively," Rahmani said. "It's certainly very possible."
Khanna is not the only Democrat representative to make it a priority. Quoted in The Sun, Suhas Subramanyam, a Democrat Congressman, recently suggested he would be willing to help police obtain the original files.
Subramanyam, who also sits on the Oversight Committee, said: "Democrats will continue to investigate Epstein’s crimes and demand answers from Andrew and anyone else involved.
"We will use the full subpoena power of Congress to get justice for the survivors and transparency for the American people.
"I called on the former Prince Andrew to testify and will continue to do so in the next Congress. I also fully support giving British law enforcement the Epstein files and assisting with any other criminal investigation."
Andrew's Lawsuit Against UK Police
The midterms come at a time when Mountbatten-Windsor has been on the front foot, after suing British police and the Central Criminal Court, also known as the Old Bailey, over the warrants used to search his current home Marsh Farm, on the Sandringham Estate, and former home, Royal Lodge, in Windsor.
Thames Valley Police acknowledged that the judge issued the warrants under the wrong section of the relevant legislation but filed its own legal application to have the evidence included anyway.
"Here in the United States, if a search warrant is invalid the evidence that is obtained is suppressed—it's automatic," Rahmani said. "My understanding is in the U.K. it's not automatic, it's up to the judge to determine whether the legal error would have an adverse effect on the fairness of the proceedings."
A hearing will be conducted in private next year to determine whether the police can continue to use the evidence. In a judgment on October 8, the judge, Nicholas Hilliard said: "The fact that the search warrants were quashed does not bring the investigation to an end or mean that the whole of the investigation is unlawful. TVP are continuing with their investigations."
Mountbatten-Windsor's lawyers have indicated they will contest the application by Thames Valley Police to keep the evidence that was seized. If the prince's team are successful that would make obtaining the original documents in the Epstein Files all the more crucial.
"The best defense is a good offense," Rahmani said, "so to the extent that you can get potentially harmful evidence excluded, that is always going to be a win. I don't know obviously what evidence was obtained form the search of his home or whether it's necessary for a prosecution or whether prosecutors can get it from some other means. These kinds of suppression motions are very common here in the United States. As evidence gets tossed that makes it harder for the prosecution."
One other possibility is that the lawsuit was aimed not only at challenging the evidence itself but serving as a warning shot to prosecutors that Mountbatten-Windsor's team will fight every step of the way.
"They know with a case like this, Andrew is going to fight it," Rahmani said. "He's not going to plead guilty. We saw with the Virginia Giuffre case he pushed it until the very end before he settled at the 11th hour. If you're a prosecutor and you're going to file charges against the former prince you need to make sure you can get it across the finish line."
Newsweek’s reporters and editors used Martyn, our AI assistant, to produce this story. Learn more about Martyn here. Contact Newsweek editors for this story: Robert Greenall and Daniel Orton