Ro Khanna

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WASHINGTON ― King Charles did not acknowledge survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking ring in his Tuesday speech to Congress, despite a Democratic congressman saying he was told the king would do so.

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) told HuffPost earlier Tuesday that he “fully expected” the king to address survivors of Epstein’s abuse. He said he recently met with the British ambassador, who told him the king would address them.

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But the king ― whose own brother, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, is tied up in the Epstein scandal ― ultimately said nothing.

“It’s very disappointing after the British Ambassador told me that the King would talk about the survivors and sex trafficking,” Khanna told HuffPost in a statement after the speech ended. “The King’s failure to acknowledge the pain his brother had caused is a moral failure and emblematic of an elite impunity that is an ongoing affront to survivors.”

The closest King Charles came to addressing the topic was a vague reference to people being “victims” of the ills of both American and British societies. He also talked about the importance of generally holding government officials accountable, but avoided drawing any clear connection to Epstein’s crimes.

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“It is the very fact of our vibrant, diverse and free societies that gives us our collective strength, including to support victims of some of the ills that so tragically exist in both our societies today,” he said in the speech.

Khanna, who has led efforts in Congress to force the Department of Justice to release all of its materials on the late child sex offender and friend of President Donald Trump, had previously asked Buckingham Palace to arrange a private meeting between the king and Epstein’s survivors during his visit to the U.S.

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But the king declined, so Khanna held a roundtable earlier Tuesday with Epstein survivors and women’s advocacy groups.

During the session, some survivors weighed in on what they hoped to hear from Charles.

“I’m looking for any sort of acknowledgment of us,” Danielle Bensky, a prominent Epstein survivor and public advocate for DOJ releasing all of its Epstein files, told HuffPost.

Bensky gave credit to the British royal family for “paving the way” for how to hold people accountable for their ties to Epstein’s sex trafficking ring. Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, had a relationship with Epstein and was arrested in February over accusations of misconduct in public office. King Charles stripped him of his royal titles and evicted him from the royal residence. Mountbatten-Windsor has denied wrongdoing.

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Still, “there’s been no acknowledgment” of Epstein’s survivors, said Bensky. “So I think just that validation is really important.”

Sharlene Rochard, an activist and Epstein survivor, said she wasn’t expecting much from the king after he refused to meet with her and others.

“It’s unfortunate,” Rochard told HuffPost. The king missed an opportunity “to give back to just, basically, humanity, and show all the people in the U.K. and the world that he actually cares.”

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During the roundtable, Khanna said he thought Charles “owed that to the survivors” to meet with them during his state visit, given the serious allegations against Mountbatten-Windsor. They include claims that Epstein trafficked a woman to the U.K. to have a sexual encounter with the former prince.

“I thought it would have been an incredible moment and statement to show that it doesn’t matter how much wealth you have, how much power you have, no human being is dispensable, and that the survivors deserve justice,” Khanna said.