Prince Andrew steps back as Epstein scandal becomes 'major disruption' - BBC Newsnight

he'd hoped it would draw a line under the story but instead four days after news night broadcast its interview with Prince Andrew he's made this announcement it has become clear to me over the last few days as the Prince that the circumstances relating to my former association with Jeffrey Epstein has become a major disruption to my family's work and the valuable work going on in the many organizations and charities that I am proud to support therefore I have asked her Majesty if I may step back from public duties for the foreseeable future and she has given her permission Prince Andrew backlash the prince is prepared for his lengthy interview with news night was a global sensation excruciating and an unmitigated disaster immediately afterwards the Duke of York was happy with how it had gone but his interview was widely regarded as damaging both to the prince himself and the royal family more widely in it he was asked in detail about his friendship with Epstein and why it continued even after the American was convicted of sex offenses and about the allegations by Virginia Jaffray then Virginia Roberts that she was forced to have sex with the Prince when she was 17 so if Virginia Roberts is watching this interview what is your message to her I don't have a message for her because I have to have a thick skin if somebody's going to make those sorts of allegations then I'm just going to have a thick skin and get on with it but they never happened do you regret the whole friendship with Epstein I'm now are still not and the reason being is that that the the people that I met and the opportunities that I was given to learn either by him or because of him were actually very useful the opprobrium that followed was swift as was the speed with which companies associated with the Juke tried to head for the exit sponsors of his entrepreneurs initiative pitch at palace including KPMG and Standard Chartered announced they wouldn't be renewing their sponsorship the fallout from the interview was even one of the questions in last night's leaders debate suit from Leeds is the monarchy fit for purpose Jeremy Corbyn needs a bit of improvement the institution of the monarchy is beyond reproach whether he's gone of his own choosing or has been put under pressure ensuring the monarchy remains beyond reproach and leaving the Queen untainted after four days of mounting criticism will be behind the decision to step out of public life perhaps most troubling for many who watched the news night programme was the Prince's failure to express sympathy for Epstein's victims despite being offered every opportunity this interview has been exceptionally rare you might not speak on this subject again is there anything you feel has been left unsaid that you would like to say now no I don't think so I think you've probably dragged out most of the most of what is required Prince Andrew statement tonight says what he didn't say on Saturday night I continue to unequivocally regret my ill-judged association with Jeffrey Epstein his suicide has left many unanswered questions particularly for his victims and I deeply sympathize with everyone who has been affected and want some form of closure the challenge now for the prince will be whether he can restore his reputation within the royal family and the wider public was Katie brasil' giving us a sense of the events so far we're going to be hearing over the course of the next few minutes from the historian Anthony cells and he'll be joining us shortly we'll also be hearing from Dai Davis who is a former head of the royal protection and Chief Superintendent of the Metropolitan Police but right now we're going to go to Gloria Allred who's the lawyer representing victims of epstein and she's joining us now from Los Angeles Gloria Allred thanks for your time this evening can I just get first of all your reaction to what has happened to what you've heard this evening well I'm very glad that Prince Andrew has indicated that he will be willing to speak to law enforcement but I don't know what he means when he says you know essentially that if it is required because I don't know if he's requiring a subpoena or what now my clients who are victims of Jeffrey Epstein did speak to law enforcement the criminal investigators for the Justice Department for the Southern District of New York and they did not require a subpoena or anything else they recognized that it was important to assist this investigation by providing any information that might be relevant to the criminal prosecution of anyone who may have conspired with mr. Epstein to sexually traffic underage girls so I don't know why he did that Prince Andrew and added that to his statement all I can say is he should volunteer to cooperate with law enforcement without any condition and without any more delay let me just ask you then if he doesn't volunteer himself what would that next step be we understand that one of his victims legal teams had approached him in the past do you understand the the subsequent steps now well there are two tracks one is the criminal justice investigation to see if charges should be filed in reference to anyone who might have knowingly conspira-con spired with mr. Epstein to recruit and to sex traffic underage girls to him the other is the civil pathway in other words civil lawsuits such as the one that I just filed this week for Jane Doe number 15 and I did a news conference with her and of course she alleges that she was sexually abused by mr. Epstein when she was only 15 years old so we will be doing discovery in that case and seeking to have anyone deposed and meaning take their testimony under oath as part of the discovery in our clay case in order to prove our case and so anyone who thinks that Prince Andrews testimony might be relevant in to a civil lawsuit that they are pursuing against mr. Epstein should voluntarily agree to be deposed in other words give testimony under oath even prior to trial so I haven't made a determination yet as to whether we will seek in our civil lawsuit on behalf of our client and by the way others will be filed by us as well other lawsuits so whether we will need to take Prince Andrew's deposition but I'm saying he should provide it in any civil cases well where his testimony might be relevant glory can I just ask you what reaction there has been from your clients to the interview I'm assuming that many of them will have seen that interview does it change anything for them in terms of what was said in it I you know of course you know it's been upsetting to at least some of them to hear what he said obviously he did not show very much feeling sympathy empathy for the victims in it they except for you know speaking about the allegation of rape which has been made against him by one of the victims of mr. Epstein essentially there was little and no reference to the many many other victims of mr. Epstein yeah so that of course is upsetting they're not a footnote they are it's essential that they receive a justice that they learn all of the truth about how this could have happened why it happened and anyone who might have information should provide it but so of course that was not a satisfactory interview of Prince Andrew I think at this point he understands that yep glory all right thank you very much indeed for joining us so we're going to talk to the historian Antony Selden now nice to see Antony let me try and get your response to this first of all it's it's been quite a day and it's been quite late-breaking I'm wondering historian puts this into any kind of context well it's quite quick for a historian to put it into context because it's all happening but my sense of it is that he has done what was necessary he has closed it down as far as he is concerned he has may be inadequate but he has tried to say what he didn't say to you at the weekend which is that he was feels some sympathy for the victims he's sorry he kept going with his relationship with Epstein and you know I think that that that it is going to probably close it down and be enough I mean it's you know we'll have to see what happens but he's only the eighth figure who who is in line for the monarchy we're not talking about Prince Charles he's only the 15th most popular figure in the royal family I mean this is fundamentally a family matter I didn't think it's a monarchy matter okay that's interesting but in the sense of where this imperative came from do you sense that was the princes response to the press he was getting was it the Queen herself would Prince Charles have had a hand in this decision well I absolutely don't know the answer to that question but clearly he himself Prince Andrew said what he said about and that's a very big step for him to to withdraw for the foreseeable future I mean that's you know a big deal and almost without precedent so he clearly had to have sanction that in somewhere it's occurred to him that since he spoke to you and now he's realized that he was very considerably out of step with the nation it's interesting that the idea of the nation because it does contribute somewhere along the lines to this wider sense that all the institutions that we've taken for granted for so long don't feel quite so stable yet at the moment as we assumed they were yes well I think that that there's a lot in that I mean we are in a extraordinarily volatile political position we had the brexit referendum in 2016 there was a clear opportunity then to have had a national solution to a national issue brexit but the prime minister of the day chose to make it a narrow tribal solution only after three years of failing to get her solution that she reached out across her own party and across the floor of the house to labor to late in the day by which time the nation had become extremely polarized more so than at any point arguably since before the first world war and there were three years when the country didn't get on and start solving the long-standing issues that it needs to be looking at so this is a serious issue and we need the monarchy the monarchy is a real point of stability at this moment in our history that the Royals investigated by the police before in this way that happened before me do you understand why the Met Police would perhaps find it difficult to go further than they did if that was the reason Emily I mean this is a I'm not a specialist in in what the police have done with the royal family but I mean this is not a monarch achill issue this is a family issue concerned with the a thin line to the succession who tried I mean I don't know but it mean it seems like he was trying to clear his name hence giving the interview it went very badly wrong he made it a series of misjudgment yet this was an attempt wasn't it to engage with the public to be more forthcoming to be more open I wonder what you think that tells us about the way that they'll interact with the public in the future well I mean it's it's a learning experience for them I mean it hasn't been a great week for the family and but I think the monarchy will come through unscathed it's not like the 1990s and with Prince Charles and my sense is that the monarchies learned from that experience is reacted very quickly and taken decisive action which I think will be enough to see the family and certainly that the monarchy through at this key moment in our national history thank you thank you very much just before we came on air I spoke to die Davies he's a royal former head of royal protection and Chief Superintendent of the Met Police and I began by asking him what he thought would happen now well one I'm delighted that he is going to cooperate because we tend to forget the 40 odd victims from 14 upwards which allegedly have been abused by his friend so one I think he's doing the right thing I think he was pushed rather than being voluntarily doing so but I'm glad he as he has and so now I would like to see the FBI and the French authorities combined with the British authorities at whatever agency is appropriate to actually look as to whether he can give material witness evidence or whether their evidence if it's properly probed might lead to him being interviewed under caution is that pressure on the police here to reopen the investigation do you understand fully why it was thrown out well I don't you know obviously I've been involved in this for a little while now and I can't understand having seen some of the testimonies that are come forward particularly as the allegations against Miss Maxwell are concerned you know trafficking women for sexual offences anywhere in this country in the Virgin Islands or in the United States by a British citizen is a very serious criminal offence if those allegations have been made to Scotland Yard I would like to know very respectfully who decided that it didn't warrant any kind of investigation and then at what level was that decided did it go all the way to commissioner and did he go further up the Train because the Home Secretary is ultimately responsible for the protection of the royal family so the questions need to be asked why if proper evidence was put forward did somebody decide in their wisdom that it didn't warrant even the preliminary investigations now they may have done some I don't know just clarify that for me because you know the Metropolitan Police well you've worked closely with the Royals you think this will have been raised at the highest levels in the force and somebody will have taken the decision not to go further well it's a question I'm I think legitimately asking now all of this is coming out you know the world is crying out for clarity on this matter you tried your very best and succeeded in many ways but in one sense all you did was open the floodgates there are so many other questions that need to be asked particularly of the Prince but also some of his associates and those who advise him and possibly traveled with him on some of these occasions what on earth was going on you will know that the Met did look into these allegations it took them very seriously and didn't have enough evidence to proceed let me ask you what you made of the details that we learnt on Saturday night about the the Pizza Express I suppose you'd call it an alibi or a defense and explanation of Prince Andrew's whereabouts what did that tell you well I I didn't accept him for one moment in the sense that it was an alibi because tramps where he has been going to for many years he would know perfectly well it doesn't open till 10:30 11 p.m. he also said he didn't know where the bar was well he's been going there and the bar is very close to the dance area you couldn't possibly not know where the bar is and so you are so many questions and unfortunately we haven't got half an hour for me to go through them with you but I would like to drill down into a number of areas that was Dai Davis and we should make clear that the references he made to allegations in questioning under caution in that interview refer to Epson not Prince Andrew who's always denied any wrongdoing

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Keywords: Prince Andrew, duek of York, prince Andrew allegations, prince Andrew interview, Jeffrey Epstein, Epstein news, prince Andrew photo Epstein, duke of York Epstein allegations, royal duties, prince Andrew news, Epstein suicide, Virginia Roberts, Virginia Giuffre, ghislaine Maxwell, bbc news, Emily maitlis, newsnight, world exclusive, Buckingham palace, queen Elizabeth, Fergie, prince Andrew royal duties, gloria allred, epstein’s victims, who is jeffrey Epstein

Id: QFMngPfGnOU

Length: 18min 0sec (1080 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 20 2019