Howard Lutnick answers questions from US House over Jeffrey Epstein ties | Jeffrey Epstein
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick appeared before the House oversight and reform committee on Wednesday to answer questions about his past ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
Lutnick we agreed In March, he was about to sit down for a written interview with the committee after the justice department released millions of documents related to Epstein; these included documents showing that Lutnick continued to correspond with Epstein after the underage financier was convicted of soliciting a minor for prostitution. The hearing is part of the committee’s broader investigation into Epstein.
“The secretary looks forward to answering any questions on the record when he voluntarily testifies before the oversight committee,” a commerce department spokesman said in a statement before the hearing. “He looks forward to putting an end to false and unfounded allegations in the media designed to distract from the historic work being done at the business department.”
Wednesday’s interview took place behind closed doors, and the transcript was released at a later date, as the committee has done with previous interviews.
After the hearing ended, Democrats on the committee harshly criticized Lutnick’s performance. “We now know why this interview was not recorded on video. If Donald Trump had seen the transcript of the video, he would have fired Howard Lutnick.” in question California’s Democratic congressman Ro Khanna led efforts in Congress to release the Justice Department’s files on Epstein. “It was just distortion and lies… He made a nonsense about the English language.”
“Howard Lutnick should resign” added Suhas Subramanyam, Democratic Virginia congressman. “What we just heard in that room was absolutely mind-blowing. It was evasive, uptight and dishonest.”
In January, documents released by the justice department as part of its files on Epstein revealed that Lutnick, once Epstein’s neighbor in Manhattan, maintained contact with the disgraced financier after Epstein was convicted in 2008 of soliciting a minor for prostitution. That statement contradicted Lutnick’s claim last year that he and his wife cut ties with Epstein in 2005.
At a Senate hearing in February, Lutnick, who has not been charged with any crimes related to Epstein, acknowledged visiting Epstein’s private island in 2012, telling lawmakers that he and his family went to the island for lunch with Epstein.
“My wife, my four children and my nannies were with me,” Lutnick said. “I had another couple, they were also there with their children.
“And we had lunch on the island for an hour, that’s true,” he said.
Among the documents disclosed in the files is Epstein’s program. May 1, 2011It shows a planned appointment with Lutnick.
During the hearing, Lutnick told lawmakers: “I didn’t have any relationship with him. I had almost nothing to do with that person.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters in February that Lutnick “remains a very important member” of the president’s team and that the president “fully supports” Lutnick.
On Wednesday morning, ahead of the scheduled interview, Republican representative James Comer, who chairs the oversight committee, was asked what his questions for Lutnick would be.
“What questions do you have about his associations?” the reporter asked. “That he went to the island with Mr. Epstein and his family, that he did not stop communicating with Epstein after his conviction? Are these some of your questions?”
“Yeah, yeah, those are the questions, I think those are the questions everybody is going to ask, I don’t know how many more questions there are, it’s something a lot of members want to hear from Lutnick and I will add that he came in voluntarily, so I appreciate that, so hopefully we’ll get more answers.”
Comer added: “We haven’t talked to many people who have admitted to being on the island, from what I understand he wasn’t on the island very long and was there with his wife and children but let’s see what he says.”
Lutnick and his wife “met Jeffrey Epstein in 2005 and had very limited interaction with him for the next 14 years,” a commerce department representative said in a statement earlier this year.
Spokesman added “This is nothing more than a failed attempt by legacy media to distract from the administration’s accomplishments, including securing trillions of dollars in investments, securing historic trade deals, and fighting for American workers.”
The recordings and testimony in February contradicted Lutnick’s previous statement on a podcast last year in which he described a 2005 visit to Epstein’s Manhattan home as leading him and his wife to decide never to be in the same room as Epstein again.
Lutnick said in the podcast that Epstein showed Lutnick and his wife around his house, and that there was a massage table and candles in the middle of one of the rooms.
“I tell him: ‘Do you have a massage table in the middle of your house? How often do you get a massage?'” Lutnick said. “And he says: ‘Every day.’ Then he awkwardly approaches me and says: ‘And the right kind of massage.’”
“Now my wife is standing here, and she’s looking at me, and I’m looking at her, and we’re like, ‘I’m sorry, we have to go,'” Lutnick continued. “And we left, and in the six or eight steps from his house to my house, my wife and I decided that I would never be in the same room with that disgusting person again. So I was never in the same room with him, socially, for work, or even for charity. If that guy was there, I wasn’t going to go because he’s disgusting.”
After Lutnick’s interview on Wednesday, attorney James March, who represents several Epstein survivors, said the interview with Lutnick was “a step toward potential openness” but that it “does not provide any real context for identifying the perpetrators of the Epstein network or pathways to justice for survivors.”
“Lutnick had already misrepresented his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and raised serious questions about whether he was honest during his interview,” Marsh said.
Since the release of the Epstein files, Lutnick has faced calls from some lawmakers to resign over his former ties to Epstein. Republican Thomas Massie, one of the authors of the law mandating the release of the Epstein files, said Lutnick has “a lot to answer for” and should “resign.”
