King Charles III might quickly find himself on President Donald Trump’s bad side by acknowledging the survivors of pedophile Jeffrey Epstein during his historic address to Congress.
According to Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna, Charles could bring up the scandal that has plagued both sides of the Atlantic during his speech before the joint session on Tuesday.
The California Democrat, who had written to the king requesting he meet with survivors during his visit, shared the revelation during a roundtable with survivors of the late convicted sex offender after meeting with the British ambassador.
“The British ambassador has suggested that the king will acknowledge the Epstein survivors in his address to Congress today,” Khanna said. “I hope his flunkies don’t take out the acknowledgment from his text.”
“I fully expect the king to be acknowledging the survivors, and the Epstein survivors, when he speaks to our nation at Congress this afternoon,” Khanna added.
Khanna has been leading the charge in partnership with GOP Rep. Thomas Massie to release the full Epstein files with the passage of the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
He wrote to the king late last month, calling on him to meet privately with survivors during his much-anticipated state visit this week.
Khanna on Tuesday said he had made the request because he thought the British monarch owed it to the survivors due to the allegations made against his own brother Andrew in connection with Epstein.
The California Democrat said at his roundtable that he thought such a meeting would be an “incredible moment,” but the king declined the invitation.
Among those in attendance for Khanna’s gathering on Capitol Hill ahead of King Charles’ address were the family members of Virginia Giuffre.
Giuffre accused Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell of sex trafficking after she was recruited as a teenager working at Mar-a-Lago. She also accused Charles’ brother, then-Prince Andrew, of abuse.
Last year, King Charles stripped Andrew of his title amid pressure over his links to Epstein. Andrew was arrested in February on suspicion of misconduct in public office.
“There is a difficult irony in all of this, Virginia was recruited from a property owned by Donald Trump and trafficked to a member of the British royal family, yet today survivors are here sitting with members of Congress still fighting to be heard, still pushing for real accountability while many of the powerful figures connected to these systems remain just out of reach unable to acknowledge survivors face to face,” Giuffre’s brother Sky Roberts said.
“You would expect this to be a moment for the king to give a message to the world that he stands with survivors. We still can’t get that from our own president of the United States,” Roberts added.
Trump is a longtime associate of Epstein and is repeatedly mentioned in the Epstein files. He has adamantly denied any wrongdoing, but he has refused to meet with survivors as the botched release of the Epstein files has plagued his presidency since last summer.
The president campaigned on releasing the files, only to turn tail and fight to keep them from being shared with the public.
Eventually, he claimed he supported releasing more files and signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act in November, after it became clear the legislation would pass despite opposition from Republican leadership.
However, his Justice Department is accused of violating the law and failing to release all the files as required by law and explain its redactions.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who previously served as Trump’s personal attorney, was sued by lawyer and political commentator Katie Phang this week for not complying with the law.
When asked about Epstein, Trump has also repeatedly slammed the coverage of it, attempted to distance himself from Epstein and Maxwell, and even argued it is time for survivors to move on.
