Last week, Buckingham Palace briefed the royal rota about King Charles’s upcoming state visit to the US. Charles will be in Washington towards the end of April – there will be a state dinner at the White House, and Charles will visit and address Congress. Something else was confirmed last week: Charles will NOT meet with Jeffrey Epstein’s victims. Rep. Ro Khanna, who co-authored the Epstein Files Transparency Act, has been publicly lashing Charles ever since. Khanna has been giving interviews to every British outlet who will have him, calling out Charles for his refusal to meet survivors or speak about Jeffrey Epstein whatsoever. This week, Rep. Khanna was a special guest on the Times of London’s Royals podcast, and these quotes are delicious.

Khanna on Charles’ refusal to meet the survivors: “It’s disappointing. He’s certainly able to meet them. We made it very clear that none of the specific facts regarding his brother would be discussed. We made it clear that uncomfortable questions would not be asked, such as when did the royal family know about allegations concerning his brother, such as how many times did Epstein actually visit the royal court, such as why did the King not speak out earlier regarding his brother. Those are the questions the media will ask when he comes to the United States, and I don’t want those to be the dominant headlines. And if he had just met with the survivors and said that he may be a king, but that doesn’t make him any better than the survivors, that he understands that he is born of the same flesh and has equal dignity as the survivors, he would have done himself a favour.”

Charles would never win an election: When asked whether he thought that the reason given by the palace for not meeting the Epstein victims was “a fudge”, Khanna replied: “No, I’m saying it’s ridiculous. I’m saying they would be laughed out of parliament and they’d be laughed out of an election campaign in America. I think the King, I’ve seen some of the clips. It’s like they’d never been asked questions by the press. It would be embarrassing. They wouldn’t get 2 per cent of the vote if they had to actually campaign. Here’s the problem. They’re not above the law. They’re not any better than you or me.”

Charles should speak to survivors or at least acknowledge the Epstein situation: “I’ve said that he should meet the survivors, and I really believe that is the most important thing. Short of that, when he does speak to the Congress where I’ll be on our 250th independence anniversary, he should at least acknowledge the Epstein scandal. He should acknowledge the trauma that these young girls faced. He should make it clear that the British monarchy condemns that and will take actions to prevent that and that they support the release of the files. At the very least, it seems to me, that even if he doesn’t meet the survivors, which is my hope, and the survivors’ hope, he would make a clear acknowledgement of that in his speech.”

[From The Times]

I absolutely love this part: “It’s like they’d never been asked questions by the press. It would be embarrassing. They wouldn’t get 2 per cent of the vote if they had to actually campaign. Here’s the problem. They’re not above the law. They’re not any better than you or me.” Not an American congressman telling British journalists to do their f–king jobs and ask direct questions of the Epstein-class royals. The problem for pretty much everyone is that Charles actually IS above the law, at least in the UK. That’s the larger issue with Prince Andrew’s arrest as well – if Andrew ever goes to trial, all he has to do is say that Charles knew and approved of all of his activities and the case would implode. While no one in the UK wants to acknowledge it, the monarch is effectively above the law.

(BTW, I love that Khanna’s staff was like “oh, let’s schedule him to appear on a royal podcast!!”)

Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Avalon Red.