Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor Got Railroaded. Good.
I never thought I’d see it. Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, has been arrested. His brother, King Charles III, had already stripped Andrew of his royal titles thanks to the controversy surrounding his documented ties to Jeffrey Epstein and alleged sexual abuse revealed in the latest batch of Epstein files. But now Andrew has been taken into custody over allegations that as Britain’s special envoy for international trade, he passed confidential government documents about economic decisions, likely so that Epstein could front-run them in the market. Andrew could end up in prison for life.
It is probably true, as longtime U.K. politics watchers like Duncan Black have argued, that this prosecution is not motivated by a consistent and earnest dedication to the rule of law. If that were the case, Andrew would have been thrown in the Tower of London decades ago. He also would be facing charges related to the extensively documented allegations of sexual misconduct as well, rather than solely the national-security stuff, which is less controversial to prosecute.
No, this is more a panicked attempt to find a scapegoat. Throwing Andrew under the double-decker bus is a cheap and easy way to shore up the legitimacy of the government and monarchy. He was already so broadly despised that last year a book describing him, to quote one review, as “not only the most hideous member of the royal family but perhaps even the worst person in the British Isles” became a number one best-seller in the U.K.
Nevertheless, any accountability is better than none, and late is better than never. It’s a lesson to put in our back pockets as the Trump regime conducts an ongoing spree of crimes and corruption that is unprecedented in American history.
Cross the pond to the U.S., and virtually none of the dozens of Epstein associates in elite positions have experienced any accountability whatsoever. A rare exception is Larry Summers, who stepped down from his professorship at Harvard, and from the board of OpenAI, when it came out that he had been warmly corresponding with Epstein up through 2018.
When it comes to the Trump administration, there is no immediate prospect of the half dozen-plus Epstein associates who are cabinet members or top-level officials even resigning. This is hardly surprising. Trump was Epstein’s close friend for many years, and he is one of the central figures in the Epstein files. Like Epstein, he has been credibly accused of more than 20 instances of sexual harassment or assault. Things would hardly be different if America had elected Epstein himself as president—except if the files are anything to go by, he was considerably more intelligent and circumspect than Trump. (Which is kind of like saying a water buffalo high on PCP is wiser than a rabid chimpanzee, but I digress.)
What is surprising (or depressing, at least), as I have previously written, is that Joe Biden’s Department of Justice, under the command of then-Attorney General Merrick Garland, was in possession of all these Epstein documents, and did not breathe a word about them to anyone. The reason, as far as I can tell, is that it would have been against department regulations (and possibly the law) to disclose such information, and Garland was absolutely obsessed with the appearance of propriety. It would have been Improper, you see.
Contrast that with the palpable sense of panic and desperation in top British circles. Not-prince Andrew is quite obviously being railroaded. Either orders have come down from on high that this guy needs to go down, or law enforcement officials have taken the hint. Get him on something—anything. That is not to say this is a sham prosecution; on the contrary, there is every indication that Andrew actually did what he is accused of. The point is that it is politics rather than a “neutral” application of legal standards that is driving what is happening.
It would not have been following Justice Department regulations to the letter to have some DOJ intern slip on a banana peel and drop all three million pages of the Epstein files directly outside the offices of The New York Times in February 2021. Neither would it have been perfectly in keeping with formal notions of the rule of law for Garland to assemble a task force the very moment he took office with the explicit objective of getting Trump on something—anything—rather than waiting 18 months before even appointing a special counsel, which is what actually happened. It also would have been entirely appropriate.
All around us, we can see the results of Garland’s self-flattering restraint: The most corrupt president in American history is looting the country and the world. Trump is collecting bribes hand over fist. He is trying to get the IRS to cut him a check for $10 billion. He stole 50 million barrels of oil from Venezuela and is socking the proceeds into a de facto personal account. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem is trying to spend $70 million of public money on a private jet for herself.
As we’re seeing in Britain, sometimes the spirit of the law is more important than the letter. It’s good when some rich jerk gets what’s coming to him, even if it comes far too late. The American culture of elite impunity, by contrast, is clearly deranging to society, stoking the cynical nihilism that redounds to the benefit of people like Trump. Today, thanks to the Biden administration’s feckless dithering, the number of people deserving of Andrew-style treatment is long indeed. But that’s every reason to make sure as many of them as possible get it.
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