FBI wants to grill Prince Andrew on ties to Epstein: report – New York Post, Nypost.com

A week after Prince Andrew’sdisastrous defense of his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein on the BBC, some American folks are lining up to be next to interview the reckless royal about his ties to the now-dead pedophile – the FBI.

“There’s been active discussions between the FBI and Department of Justice about interviewing Prince Andrew in relation to the Jeffrey Epstein case,” a Justice Department source told The Sunday Times of London.

“If he agrees to an interview, he could possibly provide some very unique and helpful insights and make a significant difference to the investigation,” the source said.

Despite Epstein’s suicide in a Manhattan federal jail cell in August, the FBI is continuing to probe the millionaire financier’s alleged underage sex-trafficking ring. Investigators are looking at how they would interview Andrew in Britain, The Times said.

A source close to Andrew told The Times that Andrew would be “happy to cooperate” with the FBI.

Relieved of his royal dutiesby the queen last week, the Duke of York will face increasing social and family pressure to cooperate , royal watchers predicted.

But Andrew’s fiercest looming interrogator may be his own brother, Prince Charles. The heir to the throne is “furious” over his brother’s involvement with Epstein, royal watchers said.

Charles, 71, is on his way back to London after a week-long royal tour of New Zealand and the Solomon Islands.

“Charles will be furious that his trip to New Zealand has been completely overshadowed,” royal author Tom Bower told the Daily Mail. “The one thing Charles is determined to do is inherit the crown, and he won’t let anyone get in the way.”

The Duke of York, 59, was forced to step down from numerous charities following hisdisastrous BBC interview, during which – among many gaffes – he asserted that his friendship with Epstein provided him with “some seriously beneficial outcomes. ”

Andrew has now been bounced from his office at Buckingham Palace by his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, who also fired his longtime secretary, Amanda Thirsk.

Lisa Bloom, a lawyer representing five Epstein accusers, urged Andrew to voluntarily participate in the federal probe.

“It’s not going to be easy to subpoena someone like Prince Andrew,” Bloom told a BBC program. “He’s obviously not walking down the street, where a process server can just hand him a piece of paper.”

A BBC interview with Andrew accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who says that she was sex-trafficked three times to the royal starting at age 17, airs next week.

In his own BBC interview, Andrew suggested a now infamous photo of him hugging Giuffre is a fake – but a leading image-doctoring expert told the Sunday TimesIt’s very likely real.